WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. - The West Liberty University volleyball team will play in the program's first NCAA Tournament tomorrow afternoon. The 7th seeded Hilltoppers will take on 2nd seeded Clarion at 2:30 pm in the Atlantic Regional, hosted by Gannon University.

THE BASICS
2:30 pm | Erie, Pa (Gannon University)
#7 West Liberty (21-12) vs. #2 Clarion (26-4)
Live stats and video links can be viewed here.

THE HILLTOPPERS
West Liberty is coming off a trip to the Mountain East Conference semifinals last weekend. The Hilltoppers came out of the gates firing with a 3-0 quarterfinal sweep of West Virginia State to advance to their 5th MEC Semifinals in program history. WLU battled out a 26-24 win in set one after facing set point, then left no doubt in the second and third (25-16 and 25-13) for the sweep. The Hilltoppers took the opening set from Wheeling in the semifinals behind a .306 hitting percentage, but came up short the next three. WLU got up 11-5 in the second, but the Cardinals chipped away to take the lead and never looked back. On the season, the Hilltoppers owned a 10-5 record in non-conference play, then went 10-6 in conference before the 1-1 trip to Charleston last weekend. The Black and Gold rank 8th in attacks (4,574), 10th in digs (2,091), then 11th in blocks (264) in Division II.

MEC Libero of the Year and first team all-region selection Nyia Setla leads the defense with 691 digs and 5.81 per set ranking second and third in all of Division II. Ruby Countryman earned second team all-region and all-conference as the 'Toppers leading attacker and blocker. Countryman has posted 277 kills and 126 blocks, with 36 of them solo, the third most in DII. Kirsten Bogunovich picked up All-MEC honorable mention honors and is the on the team leaderboard in multiple stat categories, ranking second in kills (251) and assists (452), then third in blocks (68). She has recorded three triple-doubles, one of 12 players to do so in DII this year. Haley Zeck paces the passing duties with 663 on the year and leads the team with eight double-doubles.

THE GOLDEN EAGLES
Clarion enters the NCAA Tournament coming off a loss in the PSAC Championship against Gannon in five sets, its second 5-set loss to Gannon this season. The only other losses came against Cal U and WLU was the lone in non-conference play. 18 of the 26 wins came in straight sets, seven in four, and one of the three five set matches this season ended in favor of Clarion.

The Golden Eagles are 7th in DII in kills per set (14.34). Leading the attack is Cassidy Snider at just over 4 kills per set, ranking 17th in DII. London Fuller is the go-to setter averaging 11.03 assists per set, which is 13th in DII. She was also just named the Atlantic Region Player of the Year by the D2CCA. Clarion led its conference in hitting percentage (.258), assists per set (12.69), and kills per set (14.34).

EARLIER THIS SEASON
West Liberty handed the Golden Eagles their first loss of the season back on September 10 to cap off a 4-0 weekend at the Atlantic Region Crossover.

The Hilltoppers dropped the opening set, then bounced back with three wins. The Black and Gold posted 16 team total blocks. Ruby Countryman upped her career-high she just broke the day before with nine total blocks, Kirsten Bogunovich added eight, while freshman Liv McAtee had five.

Clarion took a back-and-forth set one with two straight points to break the 23-23 tie. West Liberty came right back and won sets two and three, 25-15 both times.

West Liberty faced a 24-20 deficit in the fourth, but put four straight points on the board to tie it up. Each team scored to keep it all square at 25, then WLU won three consecutive rallies to put the match in the books.

Nina Billotto paced the offensive attack with 13 kills. Bogunovich dished out 23 assists and also had seven kills of her own. The Hilltopper defense held Clarion to a negative hitting percentage in set two and .077 for the match. Katelynn Fritz and Setla each charted 20+ digs.

FOLLOW
Follow the NCAA Atlantic Regional by visiting the Tournament Central page here.

Follow Hilltopper Volleyball online at HilltopperSports.com, as well as on Twitter (@WLU_Volleyball | @WLathletics), Instagram (@wlu_volleyball | @wlu_athletics), and Facebook.