WHEELING — It has become a rite of late fall: Wheeling Jesuit University winning the conference volleyball championship.

The youthful Cardinals captured their fifth straight Mountain East Conference net title last weekend, downing rival West Liberty in the finals at the McDonough Center.

Christy Benner has built a net juggernaut in her 16 years at the Cardinal helm. She has directed the Cardinals to more than 500 wins and five-straight NCAA Elite Eight appearances.

The highlight of that great run, undoubtedly, is Wheeling Jesuit’s 2015 NCAA D-II national championship.

This year’s MEC championship is extra sweet. The Cardinals are extremely young. Benner had to replace a stellar senior class, numbering six performers and countless victories.

This year’s roster features two seniors, no juniors, five sophomores and eight freshmen. Moreover, Benner lost one returning regular prior to the season due to injury while another returnee left the team for personal reasons.

Youth was definitely served with this year’s championship bunch as it captured an impressive 31 of 36 matches against a formidable schedule.

“We may be the youngest team in the country, losing six seniors and eight players all told. But we work very hard recruiting the right players for our system,” Benner said. “We have a culture here and a legacy and tradition to live up to. Our alumni help to pave the way.

“The recruits see the banners and know what the expectations are. They embrace the work on the court and in the classroom,” she added. “Our two seniors were on the national championship team and they have taken our younger players under their wings. They have shown great leadership.”

Benner has grown accustomed to winning but she still is passionate about high-level success.

“Winning another MEC championship feels wonderful. It was one of our pre-season goals with such a young team. I am very proud of them,” Benner said. “This year’s tournament title was a little more exciting and challenging than the previous ones. We had an injury before the tournament and had to make some adjustments.

“Urbana had a solid group of senior leaders and West Liberty had everyone back and made a nice run last year,” she continued. “We knew we would get everyone’s best shot. We were every poised in the fifth sets.”

WJU’s Cassie Meyer, Stephanie Sylvester, Haley Kramer and Maddy Smyth were named to the MEC All-Tournament team.

Now with a handful of MEC crowns in as many seasons safely tucked away, Benner and her Cardinals take aim at another title. WJU has been the No. 1-rated team in the Atlantic Region all season long and consequently will host the eight-team regional which commences Thursday.

“It is nice to play at home. Our tough early season schedule helped us as we won all our regional matches. It was good to be tested early,” Benner said. “We went through the MEC unscathed. I never expected that.”

Wheeling Jesuit opens regional warfare against eighth-seed Winston-Salem State (22-7), champions of the CIAA. The Rams upset Shaw to earn their berth.

“I don’t know a lot about them yet,” Benner said in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon. “I do know they are athletic and disciplined and beat a very good team in Shaw.

“Much of the region tourney has a Pennsylvania flavor with teams such as West Chester, IUP, Shippensburg, Seton Hill and Pitt-Johnstown,” she said. “We are quite familiar with those teams. It should be a competitive regional.”

The other first-round matchups are as follows:

Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament top-seed Indiana (24-9) garnered the fourth overall seed and will face No. 5 West Chester (24-8). Gannon (28-6) checks in as the No. 2 seed and will play No. 7 Shippensburg (21-11) while PSAC Tournament champion and No. 3 seed Pitt-Johnstown (26-8) battles No. 6 Seton Hill (22-7).

BITTENGLE HONORED

ASHLAND UNIVERSITY senior forward Morgan Bittengle has been selected to the D2CCA All-Midwest Region soccer first team.

This marks the third time Bittengle has been tabbed for an all-region squad. Bittengle was a Daktronics second team choice in 2015 and has twice previously been named to an NSCAA all-region team. She becomes the first Ashland player to be picked to an all-region first team since 2005.

Bittengle, who has Eastern Ohio roots, is now eligible for the D2CCA All-America ballot.

Bittengle capped her Ashland career with a stellar senior season. She scored 16 goals this fall, earning the third All-GLIAC honor of her career. Bittengle finished the season with nine goals in her last six games and 11 goals in her last eight contests.

She was the GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week three times in October and had two hat tricks. Bittengle climbed to third on AU’s all-time scoring list with 51 goals and is tied for fourth among active NCAA Division II players in goals scored.

Bittengle guided the Eagles to a 12-5-2 mark on the season and the No. 2 seed in the GLIAC Tournament where the Eagles advanced to the semifinals.

Morgan is the daughter of John Bittengle and Shawn (Cook) Bittengle, both are Shadyside High graduates.

BUBBA’S BITS

KRISTEN LEWICKI continues to be productive for the Buffalo Beauts of the National Women’s Hockey League. The John Marshall grad and former All-American at Adrian College has delivered two assists and seven shots on goal in three games. The Beauts are currently in second place.

WE SEND out get well-wishes to OVAC official Rick DeLuca who recently underwent open-heart surgery. Rick is recovering well at Wheeling Medical Park. Rick does a ton of work for the OVAC, including volleyball director, director of the basketball championship tournaments as well as compiling conference standings.

FORMER ST. CLAIRSVILLE all-stater Anna DeFilippo wrapped up pre-Thanksgiving play in strong fashion. The sweet-shooting guard tallied eight points to go with two rebounds, two steals and two assists in sparking Cedarville University to its third win in four starts. Cedarville opened the season by downing Penn State.

CONGRATULATIONS TO Wheeling Central and Steubenville for punching tickets into their respective state championship football games. I am fully confident Mike Young and Reno Saccoccia will add to their already well-stocked state championship portfolios this week.

THE DALLAS Cowboys may want to rethink whether Dak Prescott is their franchise quarterback. His success as a rookie was fueled by the best offensive line in the NFL and the rushing exploits of Zeke Elliott. He currently has neither.

AFTER WATCHING Pitt upset Miami Friday, one has to wonder how the Hurricanes entered the game undefeated while the Panthers finished the season an underachieving 5-7.

YOUNGSTOWN STATE fell to Bucknell, 66-60, Friday, despite some nice play from Morgan Brunner. The former Linsly 1,000-point scorer came off the bench to tally eight points for the 2-3 Penguins.