BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. – The UVa-Wise volleyball team has earned the eighth seed at the 2016 Mountain East Conference Volleyball Tournament, the league office announced Saturday night at the conclusion of the regular season. Defending NCAA national champion and fifth-ranked Wheeling Jesuit University will serve as the host for the eight-team event that starts on Thursday, Nov. 17, with the quarterfinals. The Cavaliers face No. 1 seed Wheeling Jesuit in the quarterfinal round at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
 
The Cardinals earned the top seed after claiming their fourth-straight MEC regular season crown. The University of Charleston will be the second seed, followed by Fairmont State University, Urbana University and West Liberty University. The Blue Knights won the tiebreaker for the fourth seed ahead of the Hilltoppers. Concord University has earned the sixth seed and Notre Dame College the seventh seed. The Falcons defeated the Cavs 3-0 (25-23, 25-17, 28-26) back on Oct. 13 to earn the higher seed in the tiebreaker.
 
The conference tournament will be played inside the Alma Grace McDonough Center in Wheeling, West Virginia, with the semifinals taking place Friday, Nov. 18, and the championship match Saturday, Nov. 19.
 
UVa-Wise (10-23, 8-8 MEC) will be seeking its first MEC Tournament win when it takes the court Thursday against Wheeling Jesuit (35-2, 16-0). In UVa-Wise's first year in the MEC, the Cavs were seeded 12th in the then 12-team tournament and fell 3-0 in the first round to fifth-seeded Shepherd University. After failing to make the 2014 MEC Tournament, UVa-Wise earned the No. 4 seed last year but was ousted in five sets in the quarterfinals by No. 5 Shepherd once again.
 
Back on Oct. 28, the Cavs were handed a 3-0 (25-20, 25-12, 25-17) road loss at Wheeling Jesuit. Last season, UVa-Wise became just the second MEC-member school to take a set off of Wheeling Jesuit when the Hilltoppers visited Wise for a 3-1 win on senior day. Since that match, Wheeling Jesuit has only given up three sets against MEC opponents as only UVa-Wise, Fairmont State, West Liberty and Charleston have ever been able to steal a set off of the Hilltoppers since the inception of the league.

Wheeling Jesuit has captured the previous three MEC Tournament titles and has given up only one set while doing so. The Hilltoppers' lone set loss coming in a 3-1 win over Fairmont State in last year's championship match. Should the Cavs pull out the upset Thursday, UVa-Wise will face the winner of No. 4 Urbana versus No. 5 West Liberty Friday. The Blue Knights and the Hilltoppers are set to clash Thursday at 5 p.m. prior to the Cavs' quarterfinal match.
 
Complete tournament information and a full bracket can be found at the MEC's tournament central page, here.

Visit uvawisecavs.com for all Cavalier volleyball news, statistics, complete schedule and more.
 
Quarterfinal Matchups (Thursday, Nov. 17)
12 p.m.: #3 Fairmont State vs. #6 Concord
2:30 p.m.: #2 Charleston vs. #7 Notre Dame
5 p.m.: #4 Urbana vs. #5 West Liberty
7:30 p.m.: #1 Wheeling Jesuit vs. #8 UVa-Wise