The West Virginia University Volleyball Team had their debut for the 2025 season in Norfolk, Va., at the ODU Volleyball Center. The Quest for the Crown hosted the Mountaineers, Towson, Old Dominion, and Fairfield. Let’s recap how the weekend went for the Mountaineers. Read more: WVU’s Season Opener at Quest for the Crown.
Day 1 – Towson
The Mountaineers began their weekend facing off against Towson on Friday, August 29th, at 10 a.m. ET. The Mountaineers walked away from the season opener with a 3-1 win, with set scores of 16-25, 25-11, 25-15, and 25-15.
WVU showed up defensively, finding 18 total blocks in a single game – breaking a record that has been set since 2018. Laila Ibrahim (senior) walked away with a career-high of 13 blocks, while Cassidy Tanton (redshirt senior) and Alexis Finnvold (redshirt junior) both had career-highs of four and five blocks, respectively.
Tanton, an outside hitter, and Finnvold, a setter, also finished with double-digit digs. Tanton achieved her 13th career double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs. Finnvold also achieved a double-double with 28 assists and 14 digs. This would be the sixth of her career.
Impressively, the WVU defense also kept the Tigers to a hitting percentage of .074 – the lowest of any WVU opponent since 2023.
In her first game with the Mountaineers, Trinity Sheridan added nine kills to the stat sheet, while Maddy McGath was busy with eight kills, seven digs, and six blocks.
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Day 1 – Old Dominion
Following their success against Towson, the Mountaineers took on the Monarchs on their home turf. For the second win of the day, WVU walked away with another 3-1 victory. The set scores were 22-25, 25-15, 25-23, and 25-18.
While the defense was key versus Towson, the offense took charge versus ODU. Sheridan found 16 kills while keeping a hitting average of .367. Nina Horning added 11 kills, and Tanton had 10 kills, adding to her double-double of 10 kills and 11 digs. This would be the 14th of her career. Finnvold also had a remarkable evening with 32 assists.
Day 2 – Fairfield
After an extremely successful and undefeated day one, the Mountaineers were back in action the following afternoon. The Mountaineers challenged the Fairfield Stags on Saturday, August 30th.
The Mountaineers struggled with the Stags early on, losing the first two sets 25-27 and 22-25. The odds for keeping an undefeated weekend were not looking good, until the kills started rolling in.
The Mountaineers rallied to win the final three sets with set scores of 28-26, 28-26, and 15-13. Horning and McGath were two of the five Mountaineers who recorded double-digit kills. Not only was the offense key for this comeback, but the defense had to step up their game. Finnvold and LonDynn Betts held down the back row with 15 and 14 digs, respectively.
With the win against Fairfield, the WVU Mountaineers will travel home with an undefeated weekend away. Their next competition will be their home opener, held in Morgantown from September 4th-6th.
The West Virginia Invitational is set to welcome North Dakota, Liberty, and Coppin State.
