While still showing promise, Jen Greeny’s WVU Volleyball rebuild will not happen overnight.
The Mountaineers kicked off their third tournament of the season on Friday and, despite starting strong in both matches, fell in four sets twice. West Virginia is now 3-5 on the year, which is the same record that Reed Sunahara’s squad had this time last season before finishing 9-22.
Despite the losses, WVU scored 19 or more in all but one set across the eight played. The Mountaineers also came out on the winning side of the only set to go to over 25 points, winning 31-29 in set one against Virginia.
Individually, multiple Mountaineers shined Friday, with the spotlight falling on Hailey Green, who tallied 22 kills on the day to eclipse 1,000 career kills at WVU. Junior middle Laila Ibrahim, who transferred from Coppin State this season, marked career highs in points and kills against Virginia, with 16.5 and 15 respectively.
6-foot-4 right side Lauren Bodily hit a season-best five kills against Virginia as she continues to bounce back from an injury that kept her sidelined for the majority of 2023. Transfers Cassidy Tanton and Alexis Finnvold added double-doubles, with Tanton going for 13 kills and 12 digs and Finnvold tallying 26 assists and a season high 15 digs. Libero Sydney Reed marked a season high in digs as well with 20 against East Tennessee State.
Errors proved fatal for the Mountaineers in both losses, with WVU finishing with 30 errors compared to Virginia’s 24 in match one and 20 errors compared to ETSU’s 13 in match two.
Despite both matches going to four sets, the first of the day saw both teams hitting the ball a lot more, with WVU taking 166 attacks for 52 kills and Virginia going for 160 attacks for 58 kills. Virginia finished with a hitting percentage of .213 while WVU hit at a clip of .133. WVU hit at a rate of .214 on just 126 attacks against ETSU, and the Buccaneers hit 133 attacks at a .301 percentage.
Cassidy Tanton tied for the team’s most errors in both matches, due primarily to her high number of sets. Against Virginia, Tanton took 47 attacks on a hitting percentage of .128 before going for 31 against ETSU on a .129 rate.
As for efficient players, Hailey Green shined against ETSU after reaching the 1,000-kill milestone in match one. Green hit 14 kills and two errors on 26 attacks from the outside.
West Virginia takes on tournament host Liberty at 1 p.m. on Sunday. The match can be streamed on ESPN+.
Photo from WVU Women’s Volleyball
