High-five for Eagles: UC wins WVIAC title
By Luke Dooley
Charleston Gazette
Third-seeded University of Charleston broke its curse of the fifth game against Wheeling Jesuit as the Golden Eagles won 3-2 (30-28, 30-26, 24-30, 27-30, 15-12) Saturday in the championship match of the West Virginia Conference volleyball tournament at the Charleston Catholic Athletic Complex.
During the regular season, UC came back to force a fifth game against the Cardinals and lost, and last year in
the semifinal match of the WVC tournament, the Cardinals rallied to force a fifth game, where UC lost again.
“Knowing our history, I was a little bit worried about going into that fifth game,” said Stevens. “Once the game was over, my thoughts were that we finally beat them in the fifth game.”
Katy Skelley started the final game with a kill for UC that set the tempo for the rest of that game. UC went up 8-6 when the teams switched sides of the net, but Jesuit battled back to tie the game at 12. UC ended the game on a 4-0 run after Jesuit’s timeout, capped by back-to-back kills by Becca LaBrake.
“During that last timeout, I just told the girls that it was their game,” said UC coach Bren Stevens. “After that, they came out and played with more emotion than I have seen the whole tournament.”
The Golden Eagles jumped out to a 2-0 lead, highlighted by kills by Skelley and impressive digs by Megan Gieger in the second game. Gieger came up with multiple digs extending past the court, including one that helped set up a kill by Skelley that started a 5-1 run by UC to end that game.
“All of our girls really played well and stood up to the challenge during the whole tournament, but tonight [Skelley and LaBrake] appeared to be the emotional leaders for us,” said Stevens.
Skelley earned the tournament MVP award with 22 kills while LaBrake added 14 kills and 13 digs. Geiger had a team-high 24 digs.
With this win, Charleston gets an automatic berth into the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional in Allendale, Mich., starting Thursday. The Golden Eagles’ first-round opponent will be announced today.
“I’m really excited for the girls to go up there and play against all the other great teams,” said Stevens. “We really need to work on our serving in order to be a contender during the tournament.”
UC defeated second-seeded West Virginia Wesleyan in the semifinal match 3-0 (30-22, 30-28, 30-27) while the Cardinals advanced after defeating fourth-seeded West Virginia State 3-0 (30-27, 30-28, 30-27).
Charleston Gazette
Third-seeded University of Charleston broke its curse of the fifth game against Wheeling Jesuit as the Golden Eagles won 3-2 (30-28, 30-26, 24-30, 27-30, 15-12) Saturday in the championship match of the West Virginia Conference volleyball tournament at the Charleston Catholic Athletic Complex.
During the regular season, UC came back to force a fifth game against the Cardinals and lost, and last year in
the semifinal match of the WVC tournament, the Cardinals rallied to force a fifth game, where UC lost again.
“Knowing our history, I was a little bit worried about going into that fifth game,” said Stevens. “Once the game was over, my thoughts were that we finally beat them in the fifth game.”
Katy Skelley started the final game with a kill for UC that set the tempo for the rest of that game. UC went up 8-6 when the teams switched sides of the net, but Jesuit battled back to tie the game at 12. UC ended the game on a 4-0 run after Jesuit’s timeout, capped by back-to-back kills by Becca LaBrake.
“During that last timeout, I just told the girls that it was their game,” said UC coach Bren Stevens. “After that, they came out and played with more emotion than I have seen the whole tournament.”
The Golden Eagles jumped out to a 2-0 lead, highlighted by kills by Skelley and impressive digs by Megan Gieger in the second game. Gieger came up with multiple digs extending past the court, including one that helped set up a kill by Skelley that started a 5-1 run by UC to end that game.
“All of our girls really played well and stood up to the challenge during the whole tournament, but tonight [Skelley and LaBrake] appeared to be the emotional leaders for us,” said Stevens.
Skelley earned the tournament MVP award with 22 kills while LaBrake added 14 kills and 13 digs. Geiger had a team-high 24 digs.
With this win, Charleston gets an automatic berth into the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional in Allendale, Mich., starting Thursday. The Golden Eagles’ first-round opponent will be announced today.
“I’m really excited for the girls to go up there and play against all the other great teams,” said Stevens. “We really need to work on our serving in order to be a contender during the tournament.”
UC defeated second-seeded West Virginia Wesleyan in the semifinal match 3-0 (30-22, 30-28, 30-27) while the Cardinals advanced after defeating fourth-seeded West Virginia State 3-0 (30-27, 30-28, 30-27).