WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. - The West Liberty University volleyball team is set to begin conference play tomorrow at Notre Dame College. First serve is scheduled for 7 pm from Murphy Gymnasium.

The Hilltoppers posted a 10-5 record in the non-conference portion of their schedule. After three straight losses to start the season, West Liberty ended the Florida trip with a win and continued its momentum into the Cedarville tournament the following weekend where they went 3-1. Five straight wins in the ASRC kicked off the home schedule and the streak extended to six wins in a row at Salem this past Friday before Daemen sent WLU into MEC play with a 3-0 loss in the non-conference finale. 

Nyia Setla leads the conference in both total digs (297) and digs per set (5.6). Nationally, the 'Topper libero ranks 3rd in total digs and 8th in the per set average. She had her 7th 20+ dig match on Saturday against Daemen. WLU is second in the conference and 11th in all of D2 in digs per set as a team with 17.85. Ruby Countryman ranks 8th in the nation and second in the MEC in total blocks with 60. The sophomore is also fifth in the conference in blocks per set with an average of 1.13. The Hilltopper team averages 2.08 blocks per set to rank third in the MEC. Countryman also leads the teams in attacks with 127. In the passing department, Haley Zeck leads the team and is fifth in the MEC with 341 assists so far. She averages 6.43 per set which is good for 7th in the conference.

Notre Dame was on the campus of West Liberty just over a week ago for the Atlantic Region Crossover. They dropped a pair of five set matches on opening day to Slippery Rock and Shippensburg. Then, Clarion downed NDC 3-1 and the Falcons ended strong with a sweep of Millersville. Since then, NDC has won added two more 3-0 victories to their record to finish non-conference play. All six of the Falcon wins this season have been three-set sweeps. NDC is also unbeaten in its home gymnasium, at 3-0. Four players average over 2 kills a set with Kaye Dregalla in the lead at 2.51. Defensively, Carli Derda leads at the net with 49 blocks and Kiley Kalina paces the back line with 273 digs.

The teams split the season series in 2021 with each picking up a win on the road. In the first match, WLU got off to a 2-0 lead before NDC rattled off three straight set victories including an 18-16 extra-point tiebreaker set to earn the win. When the Falcons played host in late October, WLU dropped the opening set but rallied back with three 25-19 wins to claim the match.

Live video and statistics will be provided by the Notre Dame College Sports Information Department. Fans can also follow the official WLU Volleyball twitter account for live updates.
LIVE VIDEO LINK  |  LIVE STATS LINK  |  @WLU_Volleyball on Twitter

The first home conference match for West Liberty will be this Friday against Alderson Broaddus at 7 pm in the ASRC.

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