Box Score     WHEELING, W.Va. – The West Liberty University volleyball team saw its season come to an end here Thursday night in a 3-1 loss to Davis & Elkins in the first round of the Mountain East Conference Tournament at the McDonough Center.
    Coach Kayla Mull's No. 5-seeded Hilltoppers (17-15) put up a good fight but couldn't battle all the way back after dropping the first two sets to the No. 4-seeded Senators (19-9) by identical 25-23 scores.
    The Black and Gold had their chances. Facing a late 24-16 deficit in the first set, the Hilltoppers fought off seven consecutive set points only to see D&E prevail on the eighth set point for the 25-23 win.
    The shoe was on the other foot in the second set as West Liberty seemed well on its way to tying the match when it opened up a 22-16 lead but the Senators came roaring back to score 9 of the next 10 points for another 25-23 win that put WLU's back to the wall.
    The Hilltoppers responded with a strong performance in third set, taking control midway through and pulling away to a 25-18 victory to keep the match going.
    Momentum swung back and forth throughout the fourth set. West Liberty took its final lead at 20-19 on a Renee Lemke service ace but D&E reeled off four of the next five points to go up 24-21. The Hilltoppers survived back-to-back match points to make it 24-23 but a kill by the Senators' Mya Mintschenko brought down the curtain on another 25-23 loss.
    "I thought we had some nerves going on at the start that we needed to work through," Mull said during the post-game press conference. "By the middle of the match, we had started terminating the ball a little bit better, getting into our systems and serving better but it just wasn't enough."
    Senior Mackenzie Sims had a double-double with a dozen kills and 19 digs – both team highs – while junior All-MEC standout Madison Clayton added 11 kills and a pair of service aces. Seniors Morgan Farley and Caitlin Clarke contributed 8 kills each in their final collegiate match.
    Lemke, a junior setter, put up strong numbers with 23 assists, 19 digs and 3 service aces while senior Kailee Cunningham added 18 digs, extending her school record to 2,486 career digs.
    "I told the girls in the locker room not to base their memories of our season off this last match," Mull said. "The best thing about this year was our six great seniors. They inspired everyone around them, coaches and teammates alike, on and off the court.
    "Maybe our season wasn't what we wanted in terms of wins and losses but this was a really fun group to coach. They never gave up on anything and that showed in the effort they put forth every time they took the floor. They left some pretty big shoes for our returning players to fill. We need to get back in the weight room and get back playing again in the spring so we can fill those shoes next fall."
    Making its inaugural MEC Tournament appearance, Davis & Elkins advances to Friday night's 7:30 p.m. semifinal against top-seeded and No. 16-ranked Wheeling (29-3). Action begins at 5 p.m. with the first semifinal between No. 2 seed Urbana (18-12) and No. 3 seed West Virginia State (21-13).