Mountaineers bounce back after home loss, beat North Dakota State 3-0

The West Virginia volleyball team was victorious against the North Dakota State Bison Thursday night, winning 3 sets to none at home in their second game of the Mountaineer Invitational.

The match was close early, with errors from both sides, but it was West Virginia who was victorious 26-24 in the first set after a Hailey Green kill off of a Bison overpass. Tierney Jackson led the team from the middle hitter position, scoring five kills in the first set. Hailey Green was the Mountaineers’ top scorer in the set with six kills, while setter Kelley Johnson led the offense well for the Bison.

In the second set, West Virginia carried a lot of momentum from the close victory, starting the set with a 10-4 lead forcing a North Dakota State timeout. Bailey Miller led the Mountaineers with kills from smart roll shots and powerful hits alike. The Bison’s coach Jennifer Lopez called two more timeouts in the set, down 16-7 and 22-11, which led to a bit of a run from the team, but a Tierney Jackson backslide kill finished the set 25-16.

Up two sets to none, the Mountaineers started the third set a bit messy with a pair of attack errors and a service error allowing NDSU to lead 3-1 and keep the set close throughout. The Mountaineers began to pull ahead as North Dakota State made their own errors, but after a timeout from Lopez with the Bison down 16-11, the team took the lead for the first time 19-18.

Despite shining performances from the Bison’s junior MB Alexis Boling and continuous leadership and crafty setter dumps from senior Kelley Johnson, the Bison fell short, and the Mountaineers took the set 25-23 after a North Dakota State attack went out of bounds.

Hailey Green and Bailey Miller shined as the OH duo offensively for the Mountaineers, with the junior, Green, finishing with 16 kills and three errors on 24 attacks, and and Miller, the sophomore, tallying 10 kills and eight errors on 29 attacks. The fifth year duo showed great leadership for West Virginia as well. Camilla Covas recovered from her serving mistakes in the morning match and led defensively with 12 digs, and setter Lauren DeLo tallied 35 assists in the win.

The Mountaineers will finish their tournament schedule on Friday night against Robert Morris at 6 p.m. in an effort to bring their current 5-6 record to an even one overall.