Concord Gets By West Virginia Wesleyan in Four Sets

ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University volleyball team defeated West Virginia Wesleyan 3-1 in a Mountain East Conference clash Tuesday inside the Carter Center.
 
Final Score: Concord 3, West Virginia Wesleyan 1 (25-20, 25-17, 20-25, 25-22)
 
Set 1
The opening set of the match was back-and-forth all the way through. A kill from freshman outside hitter Meg Williams and an ace from freshman outside hitter Chloe Thompson sparked a 3-0 run to get Concord on the board, 3-2. Williams added two more kills and senior middle Csayjah Whitelow added one kill to knot the game 8-8. Two kills from Thompson and one kill from senior middle hitter Kyndra Pilant put the Mountain Lions ahead 19-18. Williams' seventh kill of the opening frame gave CU a 1-0 advantage, 25-20. Williams also added seven digs in the set.
 
Set 2
The Mountain Lions opened the second set with two more kills from Williams and an ace from freshman setter Declyn Tooze to grab an early 4-1 lead. Back-to-back kills from Thompson gave Concord a five-point edge, 8-3. Subsequent 3-0 runs extended the Mountain Lion lead to 19-11. Three kills from Thompson in a late 6-3 run would seal the second set 25-17. Concord hit .520 percent in the set, the second best single-set hitting percentage of the season for CU.
 
Set 3
A 3-0 run midway through the third set brought Concord within four, 13-9. Another 3-0 run behind a kill from Whitelow and an ace from Williams cut the Bobcat lead to 16-14. Tooze's 10^th kill of 2023 and another kill from Thompson tied the game 19-19. WVWC closed out the set on a 6-1 run, bringing the match to 2-1 in favor of Concord.
 
Set 4
Two kills from freshman right side Natalie Brown and an ace from freshman setter Paige Richmond saw the Mountain Lions take an early 9-5 lead. CU answered a 6-0 Bobcat run with a kill from Thompson and a WVWC attack error to deadlock the scoring, 11-11. A massive 7-0 Concord run led by two kills from Whitelow and five Bobcat attack errors gave the Mountain Lions a 21-17 lead. CU would close out the game on Richmond's sixth kill of the season, 25-21.
 
Match Stats
Williams smashed 19 kills and recorded 11 digs, notching her seventh double-double on the season. Thompson recorded her sixth double-double as she mashed 15 kills and added 12 digs. Richmond finished with 28 assists and two aces, while Tooze picked up 23 assists and served one ace. Pilant had nine kills and two blocks. Brown also recorded two blocks in the match. As a team the Mountain Lions hit .292 in the match, their second-highest game total through 16 matches.
 
The Mountain Lions travel to Elkins, W.Va. to face another MEC South Division foe in Davis & Elkins Friday at 7:00 p.m. inside the McDonnell Center.