WHEELING, W.Va. -- Fairmont State dropped the first set, but rallied to win the next three to defeat Charleston, 3-1 (19-25, 25-17, 25-21, 25-17) in the semifinal round of the 2015 Mountain East Conference Volleyball Tournament at the McDonough Center in Wheeling.
 
The Falcons (25-7) now advance to the MEC Tournament finals for the third-straight year. Top-seeded Wheeling Jesuit picked up a 3-0 victory over Shepherd in the second semifinal match of the night and will face Fairmont State for the title for a third-straight year. The MEC Championship will be decided on Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m.
 
The Falcons were led for the second-straight day by Mackenzie Harrison with 15 kills and Kaitlyn Witsaman with 14. Courtney Kress also reached double-figures with 10 and Erin Harwood nearly recorded a double-double with eight kills and 13 digs.
 
Freshman libero Megan Clerico was very composed defensively for the Falcons with 24 digs. Setter Jessica Furda led the FSU attack one again by passing out 49 assists and chipping in 18 digs.
 
After a dismal .087 hitting percentage in the opening set, the Falcons re-grouped and hit .296, .196 and .282 in the remaining three sets. FSU also held narrow advantage in aces (6-4) and blocks (5-4). Kress led the Falcons around the net with three blocks assists while Witsaman and Breanna Blot each added a pair.
 
UC (20-10) started strong in the first set and never trailed hammering down 15 kills in the set on its way to a 25-19 win. The Falcons responded quickly in the second set winning 16 of the first 22 points and cruising to a 25-17 win.
 
The third set was tied 20-20, but back-to-back errors from UC gave FSU the advantage it needed to secure a 25-21 win. Charleston looked as if it was going to send the match to a fifth set after building an early 4-0 lead, but the Falcons battled to tie it at 6-6, and then went on a 7-1 run to take the lead it would not relinquish and close out the match.