INSTITUTE, W.VA. -- For the first time since the league's inception, West Virginia State Volleyball will play in the Mountain East Conference Championship after sweeping cross-county rival Charleston (25-20, 28-26, 25-17) Friday in the semifinals of the MEC Tournament at Walker Convocation Center.
The win marks the Yellow Jackets' ninth-straight victory over UC and moves the squad to a 29-3 record. The appearance in a conference championship will be the fourth all-time for the program, and their first since 2008 when they were members of the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC).
Senior Jenna Dufresne delivered a match-high 16 kills on an impressive .382 hitting percentage, registering her second double-double in as many games after adding 10 digs. Dufresne also posted seven total blocks, including a solo rejection.
Sophomore Natalie Beer also tallied seven blocks, and finished with eight kills. Classmate Kiersten Eggleton and senior J'Lana Stone each recorded nine slams, each hitting at an-above .300 clip (.348 and .381, respectively).
Senior Gabrielle Bullock made history Friday, finishing the match with six kills and surpassing 1,000 in her career. She joins an elite group of Yellow Jackets with the milestone, including Dufresne who reached the 1,000 Kill Club earlier this season.
Junior Rachelle Madison recorded a match-high 18 digs, tallying 68 in her last four matches, including a season-high 19 in Thursday's quarterfinals.
The team finished at a .319 hitting efficiency, their highest in their last four matches.
"We have tremendous respect for UC," head coach Kris Kern said. "They're a program in resurgence and we're extremely happy for them. But tonight, we were very focused and I think we played about as well as we have in the last month or two, so we're certainly honored and humbled to be in the conference championship tomorrow night and take one more step forward."
Kern now sits at 99 wins at West Virginia State.
After trading points early in the opening stanza, State tallied five consecutive points to build a 9-6 lead. Three kills in a row from the Golden Eagles narrowed the gap at 11-10, but the Yellow Jackets replied by taking five of the next seven points to build a 16-12 advantage.
State continued to build cushion, registering three straight points on kills from Dufresne and Eggleton and a Grace Martin service ace, to build a five-point lead at 20-15. Back-to-back Golden Eagle miscues and an ace from Dufresne pushed the Yellow Jackets into safe territory at 23-17.
Bullock brought the squad to set point, and the set was secured 25-20 on a tap over the net from Beer, who finished the opening frame at a .400 clip, tallying five kills.
WVSU kept the momentum to open set 2, picking up the first three points on a UC attack error and back-to-back kills from Eggleton, soon followed by a pair of slams from Dufresne to put the Yellow Jackets with a 5-2 lead early.
UC tied things up with two kills and a block, and a game of cat-and-mouse ensued as the two squads began to trade points and leads, knotting up at 15-15. Kills from Stone and Bullock sandwiched a Golden Eagles error, and a rejection from Bullock and Martin gave WVSU the lead with some slight cushion at 19-15.
The Golden Eagles refused to quit, registering five straight points to take the lead back once more at 20-19. A Grace Martin kill tied things again at 20-20 but the stalemate was short-lived as UC capitalized on an error and a kill to go up 22-20. State then found a formula that proved to be efficient with an Eggleton slam and block from Beer and Dufresne that they repeated for a 4-0 run and arrived at set point.
The two squads then endured extra points, going through ties at the 24-24, 25-25, and 26-26 marks. After Dufresne evened the set once again at 26-26, she then pushed the Yellow Jackets to set point, and teamed up with classmate Martin for a big-time block at the net to seal the set 28-26.
Up 2-0, State began with a 12-3 advantage in the third frame in a sequence that featured four kills from Dufresne. The squad continued to dominate the set, going up by 11 points at 19-8.
UC registered three points and looked to threaten before a Grace Martin kill, followed by an ace, stifled the potential threat and put WVSU up 22-12.
The Golden Eagles continued to pressure and tallied five of the next six points to trim State's lead to 23-17, but a kill from Beer brought the Yellow Jackets to match point, and then she and Dufresne teamed up for the final rejection to send State into the finals with a 25-17 finale.
UP NEXT
The Yellow Jackets will face the winner Saturday of Wheeling/West Liberty, with first serve slated for 5 p.m. Live stats and video will be provided. Tickets can be purchased online.
