INSTITUTE, W.Va. -- In the final match of the Mountain East Conference volleyball quarterfinals, Fairmont State and University of Charleston turned in a showdown between the two squads. Charleston took the match in five sets (25-23, 19-25, 28-26, 25-19, 15-11).
The Fighting Falcons sent the match into the fifth and final set with a 25-19 fourth set victory. Fairmont State climbed out to a 9-4 lead in the fifth set before UC rattled off five quick points to knot the set at nine points apiece. The Falcons secured the next point before Charleston went on to collect the last five of six points to advance in the MEC Volleyball Tournament.
Keara Lewis led the Falcons with 21 kills and added a double-double with 11 digs on the night.
Julia DiPaola joined Lewis with 14 kills and 22 digs.
Amelia Moore and
Emma Ludwig added 13 and 10 kills respectively to round out the Falcons in double figures.
Lilianna Keber paced Fairmont State with 50 assists on the campus of West Virginia State and tallied 4 kills.
On the defensive side of the net,
Karli Edwards was impressive with 23 digs to go along with five assists and one service ace. Moore had five total blocks with Ludwig chipping with four and DiPaola adding three blocks in the fixture.
Kelsey Moeller finished the night with 18 digs for the Falcons as well.
For Charleston, Sage Bearnson broke a MEC record in number of recorded kills in a MEC tournament match with 34 on the night. Jenae Thompson followed Bearnson for the Golden Eagles with 19 kills and Mackenzie Carpenter scored nine kills.
Fairmont State narrowly outhit Charleston .207 to .205 on the night with the Golden Eagles collecting 73 kills to the Falcons' 67.
The Fighting Falcons finish their season with an overall record of 21-10 and were 11-5 against MEC competition. Keber and DiPaola earned All-MEC First Team honors for their play during the regular season as Lewis was named to the All-MEC Honorable Mention announced yesterday from the conference office. Edwards joined her teammates with being honored on the All-MEC Freshman Team.
