WHEELING, W. Va. – A wild victory in the third set boosted No. 2 Urbana University past seventh-seeded Fairmont State University in the Mountain East Conference quarterfinals, hosted Thursday at Wheeling University's McDonough Center.
UU (18-12) earned its second win ever in the MEC volleyball tournament in thrilling fashion, 3-1, with final set scores of 25-19, 23-25, 31-29 and 25-16. The Blue Knights, who hold their best seeding ever in the MEC tourney, will go for their first win in the semifinals tomorrow night.
Hannah Delor led Thursday's quarterfinal match with 16 kills, five aces and 10 digs while
Lexi Reinert also reached double figures with 13 kills. Setter
Anna Davis had 46 assists, 5 digs and four kills and libero
Courtney Niesen notched 26 digs. Strong defensive efforts were also produced by
Jenna Franks and
Maggie Burns with 17 and 12 digs, respectively.
UU jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the match by closing the opening set with an 8-2 run.
Kaitlin Trace forced a Fairmont timeout with a block to put UU in front 15-11, but the Falcons came back to tie the score 17-17.
Natalie Perez, who had five kills in the first, caught fire with three kills down the stretch and another Trace point clinched the set.
The second set featured another late run, this time from Fairmont, as the Falcons used a 9-1 spurt to claim a 21-17 advantage. The Blue Knights got back within a point at 24-23, but couldn't close it out.
In the third, Fairmont led the majority of the way until an entertaining comeback by the Blue Knights stole all the momentum. The Falcons raced out to a 10-3 lead and remained out in front until a Delor kill finally put the Blue Knights ahead for the first time in the set, 21-20.
Then, the two teams who just played each other less than a week ago traded blows.
Fairmont gained a set-point opportunity when it moved ahead 24-23, but a Burns kill and Niesen ace turned the tide for a 25-24 Urbana lead. The Blue Knights held five set-point advantages at the end, but needed a Davis kill to tie it back up at 29-29, which was followed by a Reinert-Delor block and FSU ball-handling error to seal the win for Urbana.
The momentum never left Urbana as the Blue Knights moved out to a 7-0 lead in the fourth and never trailed during the final frame.
Fairmont's Julia DiPaola had 17 kills and Rebecca Feeney had 13. The Falcons hit slightly better overall with a team percentage of .163 compared to .155 for Urbana. However, the Blue Knights hit over .300 in the final set and also benefited from eight aces.
UP NEXT: The two teams that tied for second place in the MEC standings will square off in the semifinals as No. 2 Urbana battles No. 3 West Virginia State Friday at 5 p.m. ET. The Blue Knights knocked off the Yellow Jackets in the only meeting this season, 3-1 (22-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-17).
