WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. - The West Liberty University volleyball team's regular season came to an end tonight with a 3-1 loss to visiting Wheeling inside the ASRC.

The Hilltoppers finish the regular season 20-11 overall and 10-6 in conference play and have secured the north division #3 seed in the upcoming Mountain East Conference Tournament.

Wheeling came in and took the opening two sets 25-17 and 25-20 to take control of the match. In the opener, the Cardinals got ahead early and never trailed on way to the 1-0 lead. West Liberty scored five straight points in the middle of set two to take its first lead of the night at 13-12. Wheeling quickly answered with five of their own and held the lead the rest of the way.

The Hilltoppers fell behind early again in set three, but were able to surge ahead, 14-10, with an 11-2 run. Wheeling got within one point twice late in the set, but the Black and Gold held them off and closed it out at 25-22 with a Riley Cudnik kill. West Liberty slammed 19 kills and made just three errors in set three for a .356 hitting percentage.

The teams traded runs in set four and battled to a 19-19 tie before the Cardinals put it away by winning six of the final seven rallies.

Kirsten Bogunovich closed out her home career with her second triple-double of the season, recording 15 kills, 18 assists, and 11 digs.

Haley Zeck paced the passing with 25 assists. Nyia Setla led a trio of Hilltoppers with double-digit digs with a match-high 27 digs. At the net, Ruby Countryman charted five blocks and Liv McAtee added four.

Wheeling was able to stuff 12 Hilltopper attacks holding the Black and Gold to a .180 hitting percentage.

West Liberty will play the opening game of the MEC Tournament against the south's #2 seed West Virginia State on Thursday at noon in Charleston, W.Va.

Follow the Hilltoppers all season online at HilltopperSports.com as well as on Twitter (@WLU_Volleyball | @WLathletics), Instagram (@wlu_volleyball | @wlu_athletics), and Facebook.