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Mountaineers Ready for Trio of Matches
September 17, 2015 05:41 PM | Volleyball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Coach Reed Sunahara and the West Virginia volleyball team are headed to Rock Hill, South Carolina, this weekend where they will play a trio of matches as part of the Winthrop Invitational at the Winthrop Coliseum on Friday and Saturday.
The Mountaineers (3-6) will face the host Winthrop Eagles (3-7) on Friday in a 6 p.m. match that will be streamed via the Big South Network. The team will take on Davidson (4-6) in a 10 a.m. tilt Saturday morning before squaring off with Murray State in a 4:30 p.m. contest that afternoon.
“I think we have some great momentum with the win over Marshall,” said Sunahara, who is in his first season at the helm of the Mountaineers. “These are some of our last nonconference games and it’s a great chance for us to get better, especially with Big 12 play starting next week.”
Friday marks just the second ever meeting between the Mountaineers and the Eagles. The only prior meeting between the two came in September of 2008, when WVU took a 3-2 victory at the Winthrop Coliseum. The Eagles enter the match up with a 4-7 overall record and on a four-match win streak. They boast wins over Chicago State (3-0), Georgia Southern (3-1), Tennessee State (3-0) and N.C. Central (3-0).
Saturday’s contest will be the first-ever meeting between West Virginia and Davidson, though Mountaineers recently played the Wildcats’ A-10 foe, George Washington, on August 29, falling 3-0. The Wildcats enter the tournament with a 4-6 mark, including wins over East Carolina (3-0), Presbyterian (3-0) and, most recently, Marshall (3-2). Davidson averages 10.4 kills and 2.4 blocks per set. They are led by Mason Rooney (2.22 k/s) and Sabrina Shepherd (1.04 b/s).
WVU and Murray State have met four times prior to this weekend in a series that started in 1994. The Racers lead the series, 2-1, and took a 3-2 win at the WVU Coliseum in 2012 and bring an impressive 7-1 mark to the Winthrop Invitational, including a four-match win streak. Murray State topped Eastern Michigan (3-2), Georgia State (3-0) and Buffalo (3-0), among others. The Racers average 13.8 kills per set and 1.3 blocks, with three players averaging more than 3.00 kills per set, led by Kristen Besselsen (3.31 k/s) while Sam Bedard boasts 3.58 digs per set.
For the first time in five years, the Golden Ball Trophy has returned to Morgantown as West Virginia is coming off a thrilling 3-2 victory over in-state rival Marshall on Tuesday evening at the WVU Coliseum. It marked the Mountaineers’ first victory over the Thundering Herd since 2010, as Marshall had taken the previous three meetings. West Virginia, who leads the all-time series 29-19, last defeated Marshall in 2010.
Morgan Montgomery recorded her fourth double-double of the season - and her career - to lead the Mountaineers to a 3-2 win over Marshall on Tuesday at the WVU Coliseum. The sophomore outside hitter posted a career-best 36 kills in the win and added 12 digs defensively while hitting for a .308 clip. More impressively, Montgomery posted 38 total kills in 2014 - just seven more than the produced on Tuesday.
Listed as middle blocker on the roster, Caleah Wells has stepped up for the Mountaineers offensively in her final campaign. The senior from Red Oak, Texas, ranks second on the team with 2.67 kills per set for a total of 96 on the year. Wells recently posted a career-best 17 kills in helping WVU top Marshall.
Conference play will open next week for WVU, as the Mountaineer host Texas on Friday, Sept. 25, in a 6 p.m. match at the WVU Coliseum.
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