BUCKHANNON, W.Va. – West Virginia Wesleyan volleyball swept West Virginia State 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-20) in a Mountain East Conference match Monday night at the Rockefeller Center.
The Lady Bobcats (12-16, 7-8 MEC) work on their final push towards qualifying for the MEC Tournament next week, as the Yellow Jackets fall to 11-14 overall and 7-8 in MEC play.
It was back and forth for the entire match as the opening set was tied at 20 before Wesleyan pulled out a 25-23 win. The Bobcats took the second set 25-22 after Arianna Crowley helped the Lady Bobcats pull away as she served back-to-back aces to put them ahead midway through the set. In set three, Wesleyan finished off theYellow Jackets by scoring five straight points from an 18-18 tie and finished it 25-20.
Emily Denison led the Bobcats with 14 kills on .500 hitting and a match-high 17 digs. Emonie Fennell added 11 kills and 11 digs, and Bhrooke Axe had 10 kills. MacKenna Halfin chipped in nine kills and 10 digs.
Recent MEC Offensive Player of the Week Liliana Beckstedt continued her hot stretch of games dishing out 38 assists. Crowley and Leah Myers helped bring some momentum to the home side, each having three aces as Wesleyan served nine aces to West Virginia State's two.
The Lady Bobcats also had more kills (48-40), assists (43-34) and digs (59-46) than the Yellow Jackets. West Virginia State hit .254 to Wesleyan's .224 and had a 7-4 advantage in blocks.
Deniz Akgul led West Virginia State with 11 kills on .500 hitting. Carmen Perez added nine kills, Kelsey McKeehan had 18 assists, and Lilly Adkins had 10 digs. Milena Jansson led the Yellow Jackets with five blocks. There were 243 fans in attendance.
West Virginia Wesleyan closes the regular season on Thursday, Nov. 5, at 7 p.m. at home against Glenville State at the Rockefeller Center. With a win, the Lady Bobcats will qualify for the MEC Tournament next week.
