Women's Volleyball | 11/10/2012 9:33:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 PRINCETON, W.Va. – The West Liberty University volleyball team punched its ticket back to the West Virginia Conference tournament with a split in its final two regular-season matches.
    Coach Kayla Fetsko's Hilltoppers (14-15, 5-9) are the No. 11 seed in this week's WVIAC Tournament and will take on No. 6 seed Charleston (14-15, 9-5) on the Golden Eagles' court Monday at 7 p.m.
    West Liberty clinched its spot on Friday with a 3-0 rout of Bluefield State before closing out the regular season on Saturday with a hard-fought 3-2 loss at Concord.
    Friday's win against the Lady Blues was a significant one for Fetsko and the Hilltoppers as it was the 14^th win of the season for the first-year coach. That's the most wins by a WLU volleyball team in more than a decade, dating back to the 2000 team that finished with a 21-21 mark.
    West Liberty made short work of Bluefield State, sweeping the match by scores of 25-10, 25-10 and 25-5. Anne Edwards had a match-high 11 kills while Michaela Hawkins knocked down 9 kills. Brittany Albanese had a double-double with 17 assists and 11 digs while Courtney Pyeritz finished with 10 digs and Chelsea Byrge weighed in with 10 assists.
    The Hilltoppers and Mountain Lions split the first four sets on Saturday with the hosts rolling to a pair of blowout wins by identical 25-12 scores while West Liberty gutted out two nail-biting decisions by scores of 25-23 and 26-24. Unfortunately, the Hilltoppers didn't have enough gas in the tank to pull it out in the fifth set and Concord prevailed by a 15-5 count.
    Nikki Sadecky led the way with 13 kills and 11 digs. Edwards had 12 kills and 5 blocks while Hawkins was also charted with a dozen kills. Byrge posted a double-double with 34 assists and 10 digs while Pyeritz paced the West Liberty back line with 25 digs.
    Monday's four first-round WVIAC Tournament matches are being hosted by the higher-seeded schools while the University of Charleston will host the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals.
    The winner of West Liberty's first-round match against Charleston on Monday will return to the UC court Thursday for a quarterfinal tilt against No. 3 seed Alderson-Broaddus (18-16, 11-3).
 
2012 WVIAC VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT
Monday, Nov. 12
First Round
(at higher seeded school)
No. 9 W.Va. Wesleyan at No. 8 Shepherd, 7 p.m.
No. 10 Concord at No. 7 W.Va. State, 7 p.m.
No. 11 WEST LIBERTY at No. 6 Charleston, 7 p.m.
No. 12 Davis & Elkins at No. 5 Pitt-Johnstown, 7 p.m.
Thursday, Nov. 15
Quarterfinals
(at University of Charleston)
Upper Bracket
No. 4 Fairmont State vs. Davis & Elkins/Pitt-Johnstown winner, 11:30 a.m.
No. 1 Wheeling Jesuit vs. Shepherd/W.Va. Wesleyan winner, 2 p.m.
Lower Bracket
No. 2 Seton Hill vs. W.Va. State/Concord winner, 4:30 p.m.
No. 3 Alderson-Broaddus vs. Charleston/WEST LIBERTY winner, 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 16
Semifinals
Upper Bracket, 2 p.m.
Lower Bracket, 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 17
WVIAC Championship
Friday's winners, 2 p.m.