Women's Volleyball | 11/18/2017 8:34:00 PM

Box Score

    WHEELING, W.Va. – The West Liberty University women's volleyball team came up just a few points short of a Mountain East Conference championship Saturday night at the McDonough Center.
    Coach Kayla Mull's youthful Hilltoppers (20-14) battled No. 24-ranked Wheeling Jesuit to the wire only to see the Cardinals (31-5) come from behind to hand West Liberty a heartbreaking 3-2 loss in the championship match of the MEC Tournament.
    It was the fifth straight MEC title for Wheeling Jesuit, which has never lost in MEC regular season or tournament play, but West Liberty nearly pulled it off in a marathon encounter that kept fans on the edge of their seats for more than two hours.
    After the Hilltoppers got the hosts' attention with a 25-21 win in the opening set, Jesuit appeared to take control of the match with 25-13 and 25-18 wins in the next two sets to take a 2-1 lead.
    "I thought we came out ready to go and that adrenaline worked to our benefit in the first set," Mull said. "We knew Jesuit would come back strong and they did. They made some great adjustments and we struggled to stay in our system for the next two sets. We did a much better job staying within the system, fighting through the adversity and terminating points in the fourth set."
    West Liberty refused to go away quietly and dominated much of the action during the fourth set. The Hilltoppers opened up a 23-15 lead before fending off a late WJU surge to force a fifth and deciding set.
Momentum swung back and forth throughout the final set. West Liberty was up 8-6 when the teams switched ends but the Cardinals reeled off five straight points to go up 11-8 and WLU couldn't get over the hump.
    "When you get to the fifth set," Mull said, "you know those two opponents are even. Then when it gets to 8-8 it's even more so. At the end of the day, there's no one point that determines anything in a 5-set match. It's everything that builds up to that."
    Olivia Baumhoer and Stephanie Leonard were dominant at the net for the Hilltoppers. Baumhoer sent down 18 kills and added 3 blocks while Leonard had 13 kills and 7 blocks. Raimey Benson added 9 kills and 6 blocks, Sydney Scherer contributed 8 kills and 3 blocks and Caitlin Clarke had 7 kills.
    Amanda Leonard and Kendall Souder each charted double-doubles. Leonard had 32 assists and 10 digs while Souder finished with 21 assists and 11 digs. Kailee Cunningham had a match-high 27 digs.
    "There were a lot of highs and lows with the momentum swings, on the bench and on the court tonight," Mull said. "We would have loved to have that last momentum swing go our way but it was a great championship match and I couldn't be prouder of my team."
    Baumhoer, Cunningham and Benson represented West Liberty on the MEC All-Tournament Team.
  WEST LIBERTY (20-14)
     Olivia Baumhoer 18-0-3; Stephanie Leonard 13-0-7; Raimey Benson 9-0-6; Sydney Scherer 8-0-3; Caitlin Clarke 7-0-0; Amanda Leonard 4-0-2; Mackenzie Sims 1-1-0; Kailee Cunningham 1-0-0; Totals 61-1-11.0
     Assists: Amanda Leonard 32, Kendall Souder 21
     Digs: Kailee Cunningham 27, Kendall Souder 11, Amanda Leonard 10
WHEELING JESUIT (31-5)
     Cassie Meyer 24-0-1; Maddy Smyth 15-0-7; Kenzie Schroer 11-0-3; Haley Kramer 9-0-4; Chase Cole 7-0-7; Stephanie Sylvester 4-0-1; Taylor Weickert 1-0-0; Totals 71-0-12.0
     Assists: Stephanie Sylvester 62
     Digs: Audrey Francis 26, Emily Reedy 24, Stephanie Sylvester 19, Cassie Meyer 15