Jen Greeny has officially coached her first match at the helm of the Mountaineers, leading West Virginia to a 3-1 victory at the Wake Forest Invitational on Friday against Navy.
Two Mountaineers returned to the starting lineup from last season, those being captain Lauren DeLo at setter and 6-foot-2 sophomore middle Maddy McGath. Returning junior Quincey Coyle joined them in the starting lineup, receiving a bump to the starting outside hitter role. Senior captain Hailey Green was left out of the starting rotation.
Transfers rounded out the starting lineup, with junior Laila Ibrahim alternating with McGath in the middle, graduate student Sydney Reed starting at Libero, and 6-foot junior Cassidy Tanton starting as the third pin at outside hitter. Sophomore Alexis Finnvold played setter opposite of DeLo and was the primary second-ball option throughout the match.
The starters played well, racking up 46 total kills on just 18 errors in the match. Tanton and Coyle accounted for 14 each, making for career highs for both. Green recorded WVU’s only kill off the bench.
DeLo was a near non-factor in the offensive game, recording just four assists, as Finnvold carried the load with 30. DeLo did contribute in every facet of the match, though, hitting one kill on seven attacks and finishing with two aces, two digs, and two blocks. Sydney Reed also accounted for five assists from the back row.
McGath tallied the team’s third most kills, with eight in the match, but contributed most in defense at the net, tying Ibrahim for the most blocks on the team with six. McGath was also the team’s most efficient hitter, finishing with a single error on 15 attacks for a .467 hitting percentage, second on the team only to Green, who had one kill in two attacks.
For Navy, the biggest point of fault was keeping the ball in play. After going 18-9 last season, most of Navy’s biggest contributors graduated, leaving hitters with little in-match experience at the collegiate level.
The Midshipmen had plenty of opportunities, coming just five short of WVU’s total attacks with 110, but finished with just 35 kills with 25 errors. No Navy player tallied hits in the double-digits.
Hannah Hoover, the only returning starter from Navy’s 18-9 season last year, led all players with 15 digs in the match. West Virginia only finished with one more dig than Navy in the match, with Tanton accounting for 10 and Reed recording nine.
5-foot-11 junior Ava Toppin took the defensive responsibilities at the net for Navy, securing a team-high three blocks despite being undersized at middle. 6-foot senior outside hitter Lilly Lutz carried the load offensively with nine kills and three errors on 16 attempts.
West Virginia put itself in position for a sweep after a 25-16 first set and 25-18 win in the second. Navy fought back for a 25-22 win in the third, but Greeny’s Mountaineers regained composure, winning the fourth easily, 25-18, on a Cassidy Tanton ace.
Including the match-winner, Tanton finished with six aces on the night. Only Hoover finished with more, serving seven for the Midshipmen.
With the win, West Virginia now leads the all-time season series 6-0 over Navy, with WVU winning all five matches through the teams’ meeting in 2021, where the Mountaineers won three sets to none.
The Mountaineers will continue their season on Saturday against tournament host Wake Forest. The game is set to begin at 6 p.m. ET at Reynolds Gymnasium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and can be streamed with ESPN+ on ACCNX.
Photo from WVU Volleyball
