WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University volleyball team scored the last five points of the fifth set here Tuesday night to pull out a thrilling 3-2 victory over Mountain East Conference North Division rival Fairmont State in their home opener at the ASRC.
    It was the second straight win for Coach Riley Schenk's Hilltoppers (2-1), who held off a late FSU surge to knock the visiting Falcons from the ranks of the unbeaten.
    "This was a very good win for us," Schenk said. "Fairmont is a very talented team and even though we definitely weren't always the prettiest in terms of execution but we came through with some 'grind' plays that really helped us get the win. We tend to serve much more aggressively in our home gym and that really helped us tonight."
    West Liberty appeared well on its way to a quick victory in the early going as the Black and Gold swept the first two sets by scores of 25-19 and 25-21 but Fairmont State – which had rallied from a similar 2-0 deficit to knock off Notre Dame (Ohio) in its last match – wasn't going to go away that easily.
    The Falcons flipped the momentum with a 10-2 run midway through the third set to stay alive with a 25-19 decision. Fairmont opened the fourth set on a 5-0 run and never looked back, knotting the match at two games each with another 25-19 win.
    Neither team led by more than a point during the fifth and final set until the Hilltoppers mounted their winning surge.
    Trailing 11-10, West Liberty forged the game's final deadlock on a kill by senior All-MEC middle blocker Maddie Clayton. With Clayton serving, Kirsten Bogunovich put WLU ahead to stay with a quick kill off a feed from Renee Lemke and Clayton made it 13-11 with a timely service ace.
    Fairmont called timeout in an effort to stem the tide but the Hilltoppers finished off the Falcons with back-to-back kills from Bogunovich and Nina Billotto.
    True freshman Nyia Setla made an impressive home debut, setting a school record with 48 digs. Lemke cecked in with a double-double of 26 assists and 20 digs.
    Fellow true freshman Kaija Sydlowski had a huge impact with a match-high 21 kills while Bogunovich stuffed the stat sheet with 8 kills, 20 assists, 9 digs and 5 blocks to go along with 3 service aces. Clayton finished with 10 kills and 5 blocks while Emily Reedy added 8 kills, 16 digs and 3 service aces.
    The Hilltoppers are scheduled to hit the road on Friday when they head to Maryland for a 7 p.m. match against Frostburg State.