FAIRMONT, W. Va. – The Frostburg State Volleyball team made history on Wednesday afternoon as they defeated Concord 3-1 in the MEC Tournament Quarterfinals for the program's first-ever victory in the knockout competition.
FSU came into the match as the four seed in the North Division, going 10-16 overall with a 7-9 mark in conference play. CU won the South Division at 20-11 on the year with a 12-4 MEC record, while also winning the head-to-head between the sides in Athens, WV on a 3-0 sweep.
The Bobcats opened the first set with senior Maya Johnson finding the floor, however the Mountain Lions had the early upper hand, scoring four of the next five as part of a run that put them ahead 7-3. Frostburg then stormed back with a vengeance, scoring eight unanswered to take a stunning 11-7 advantage, as senior Grace Yocham took over the offense, scoring three kills in the rally while Johnson and sophomore Alliyah McNair each tacked on a score. Concord looked to counter with two in a row but FSU wouldn't let up, as Yocham joined senior Raegan Philips and sophomore Adele Evans on blocks before spiking another one down to stay ahead 15-11.
Still the Mountain Lions tried to fight back, scoring three of four and eventually pulling back within 18-16 following a couple Bobcat errors. Capturing their momentum back, Frostburg was led once again by Yocham, who put a couple kills down while joining Philips on a block, as Johnson capped a 4-1 run off an assist from junior Emery Kuebler to lead 22-17. After CU hit a pair of points hoping to stay alive, Yocham helped drive FSU on, finding the floor before a hitting error and blocking error gave her team the 25-19 set victory.
Set two was a complete back-and-forth affair, as neither side led by more than two points until after the media timeout. Concord opened things out with a kills, while the Bobcats got early scores from McNair, Philips, Yocham, and Johnson up to a 6-6 tie. It appeared that the Mountain Lions would take momentum after netting three of the next four, with kills from McNair and Yocham being followed by consecutive FSU errors for an 11-9 deficit. From that point, Frostburg began to take control of things, as a pair of CU errors either side of a Johnson-Evans block helped pave the way to a 9-2 run where Yocham and McNair each tallied a kill while four more Mountain Lion miscues put the score at 18-13.
Looking to flip the script from the first set, Concord turned things around with an efficient attack, putting five of six down and pulling all the way back within 19-18. McNair tried to settle things down for the Bobcats with a couple kills, with CU answering every step of the way up to a 22-22 deadlock. Yocham notched FSU ahead on a kill from Kuebler's pass, as back-to-back Mountain Lion errors gave way to a 25-22 set score and 2-0 match lead.
Frostburg hoped to put the match away with a sweep in the third set, as Yocham and Johnson recorded three of the first six total points to go up 4-2, however Concord was determined to keep their hopes alive with a 6-1 run to leap ahead 8-5. The frame then became a series of rallies, as FSU hit four in a row through Evans and junior Allison Brown, while the Mountain Lions responded with four of five to stay ahead 12-10. Philips, Yocham, and McNair all found the floor while Brown and Evans had a combo block that kept CU from pulling away, getting things to a 16-16 tie. Back-to-back Concord kills were answered by Evans, however four of the next five points came through Frostburg errors as their deficit grew to 22-18. Yocham and Kuebler each had a score looking for a late comeback, however the Mountain Lion lead proved too much to overcome as they kept the match alive with a 25-20 set win.
The Bobcats began the fourth set with sophomore Bailey Rafferty seeing her first action of the match and immediately providing an ace and an assist to McNair, while Concord answered with back-to-back kills. FSU then sensed an opportunity to take the upper hand, as freshman Temerah Holloway kicked off a five-point run where McNair and Evans added kills as well, surging ahead 7-2. Frostburg kept the pressure up with McNair putting down a pair to the floor while also joining Yocham on a block, as freshman Gabrielle Morris sent one back where it came from to lead 12-5.
Finding their second wind, the Mountain Lions powered their way back into the frame with five unanswered to pull within two, then after kills from Johnson, Evans, and Yocham, responded again with four of five to keep the score at 16-14. Evans found the floor twice on feeds from Rafferty hoping to pull away but CU was determined to keep their foot on the gas, scoring five of six to take a shock 19-18 advantage. McNair and Yocham helped calm things down for the Bobcats with three kills between the pair, as a Morris-Johnson block helped get some breathing room before the latter and Yocham went back-to-back on spikes to make it set point at 24-21. A service error kept Concord alive, then after a back-and-forth rally, Johnson was denied on a block to pull the score back to 24-23. With the match potentially on the line, both sides kept the next rally alive until Yocham and Evans got up on a block that the Mountain Lions couldn't handle, as the ball fell with the Bobcats winning 25-23 for the 3-1 upset victory.
Yocham had a career day, going for 20 kills and tying her personal best with five blocks, as McNair tied her personal high with 16 digs and a double-double with 17 kills and Johnson fell a kill short of one of her own on 14 digs. Kuebler put up a season-best performance of 32 assists while also having a double-double with 12 digs, as freshman Miranda Ball led the team in the latter category with 20.
With the win, Frostburg improves to 11-16 while Concord drops to 20-11. The Bobcats will return to Fairmont on Thursday, November 12 to face the two seed in the North Division, Wheeling, for the semifinals at 4:30 p.m. Information and updates will be posted to frostburgsports.com.
