ATHENS, W.Va. – West Virginia Wesleyan volleyball fell 3-2 (24-26, 25-22, 25-23, 16-25, 15-17) to Concord in a Mountain East Conference match Monday night at the Carter Center.
The Bobcats (10-16, 5-8 MEC) lose their final road test of the regular season, as the Mountain Lions (18-9, 10-3 MEC) win their third game in a row.
Wesleyan rallied from a 20-24 deficit in the opening set to tie it at 24, but Concord scored the final two points to win 26-24. The Bobcats answered with a 25-22 win in set two and took a 2-1 lead with a 25-23 win in set three. Concord hit .345 in the fourth set to win 25-16 and force a fifth. The deciding set went back and forth and was tied at 15 before Concord rallied for the last two points in a 17-15 win.
Most recent MEC Offensive Player of the Week MacKenna Halfin led Wesleyan with 19 kills and 15 digs. Bhrooke Axe added 16 kills and a team-high seven blocks, and Emily Denison had 15 kills, 12 digs and four blocks. Emonie Fennell had 12 kills, a team-high 16 digs and five blocks.
Liliana Beckstedt was able to help the Bobcats move the ball around, having 49 assists. Mia Myers contributed to the assist total, adding sever of her own.
Despite Wesleyan having more kills (66-60), assists (64-58) and digs (65-59) than Concord, and the teams tied in blocks, 13-13, they could not find a way to end the Mountain Lions comeback. Concord had a 7-2 advantage in aces and hit .213 to Wesleyan's .133.
Meg Williams led Concord with 21 kills on .327 hitting, and Maddie Stull and Addie Adkins each had 11 kills. Adkins also had seven blocks. Paige Richmond had 28 assists, and Allie Davis led all players with 20 digs. There were 217 fans in attendance.
Wesleyan returns home for Senior Day on Friday, Oct. 30, at 7 p.m. against Shawnee State at the Rockefeller Center.
