INSTITUTE, W.Va. – It was a battle of attrition inside the Walker Convocation Center Friday night, as in all three sets, the Notre Dame College Falcons held late leads, but West Virginia State was able to overcome those leads to take a 3-0 victory in a match that featured 22 ties and seven lead changes.
West Virginia State advances their record to 17-4, 8-1 in the Mountain East South Division. NDC falls to 6-11, 4-4 in the MEC North.
Leading the way for State on the attacking front was Diamond'Nique Young with 13 kills and four blocks. Jacklyn Simms contributed 15 digs, eight kills and a pair of service aces.
NDC's Samantha Comer led the team with nine kills and 10 digs. MEC kills leader Sydney Bray was held to six kills and a -.038 hitting percentage.
Set one started back and forth, but NDC went on an early 6-1 run to lead 12-7 and forcing a WVSU timeout. State gathered themselves in that timeout and traded blows with the Falcons for the next several points, but then proceeded to rip off an 11-3 run to re-take the lead 22-18 in the set on the backs of Kaitlyn Cabral's two kills and a block from Natalie Beer and Young. Each team scored three more points in the set with Jacklyn Simms slamming the set winner for the Yellow Jackets.
The early stages of the second stanza were closely contested, but NDC's Jayme Zoeckler came to the service line and ripped four service aces on five points to put State in a 13-8 hole. That lead eventually ballooned to 20-13 for the Falcons and State needed a timeout to once again regroup. NDC was hitting over .400 at this point, while State's hitting percentage was at .333. Head coach Hillary Hurley's pep talk did the trick and State took the next three out of four points with a Young kill, and a kill and an ace by Simms, forcing an NDC timeout. A kill by Young followed and then four straight NDC attack errors to tie the match at 21-all. With the momentum swing in State's favor, the teams traded a pair of points each to make it deuce at 23-all before an NDC attack error and a set gone awry sealed the set two comeback for the Yellow Jackets.
NDC ended set two hitting .088. WVSU remained over .300 to come in at .310 for set two.
The third set again kept the team close with State seemingly hitting their stride in the middle of the set to take a 12-8 lead. NDC then blocked Young's attack to tie the third set up at 14-all. NDC took a small two-point lead at 18-16. State eventually re-tied the match at 19-19 and took five of the next seven points to give State three attempts at match point and Young put the exclamation point on State's second attempt.
WVSU has a quick turn-around with an appointment against the Salem Tigers on Saturday at 1:00 pm back inside the Walker Convocation Center. This will be the first meeting since 2018 when State played the Tigers three times and won all nine sets. WVSU hasn't lost to Salem since Nov. 10, 2014 in a five-set affair.
