BOONE, N.C. – The App State volleyball team defeated Davidson, 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-18), in the Mountaineer Classic finale on Sunday. The Mountaineers went 2-0 in their home tournament, defeating Duke on Friday in addition to their Sunday victory over Davidson, and will enter conference play with a 9-2 record.
"We were anticipating a battle today and that's exactly what we got," said head coach
Chad Sutton. "Davidson is well coached and those players do a great job with first contact. I'm proud of our team for facing adversity early on and coming back to take the win.
Bella Hutchens and
Maria Contreras were huge coming off the bench tonight, making impact plays while leading us to victory."
Senior
Maya Winterhoff collected her third MVP All-Tournament Team honor of the 2025 campaign after slamming down 22 kills (2.75 k/s) on a .442 clip and making 13 blocks (two solo, 11 assists). She had also been tabbed as the 2022 Mountaineer Classic MVP. Fellow senior
Ali Morris and sophomore
MeMe Davis joined Winterhoff on the all-tournament team. Morris, who collected her first all-tournament honor of the year, matched Winterhoff with 22 kills on the weekend (2.75 k/s). Additionally, Morris made 18 digs, five blocks, and served up a trio of aces. Davis garnered her second all-tournament distinction after tallying 48 digs (6.0 d/s) on the weekend.
App State 3, Davidson 1
Against Davidson (5-5), Morris registered her third double-double of the season with a team-high 12 kills and 12 digs. Winterhoff and Hutchens matched with 10 kills apiece and Hutchens recorded a hitting percentage of .450. Redshirt senior
Addison Heidemann recorded a double-double of her own after dishing out 38 of App State's 46 assists, guiding the Mountaineers to a team hitting percentage of .226, and making 11 digs. Contreras recorded five key assists, three kills, three blocks, and three digs. Davis led the Black and Gold with 24 digs, followed by freshman
Bella Dafforn, who made 13.
App State fell short in the first set despite knotting the score eight times. The Mountaineers took a 21-19 lead with a kill from sophomore
Lou Johnson, a block from Johnson and senior
Keionna Mackey, and a Heidemann ace, but the Wildcats flipped the script with a 4-0 run to take a 23-21 edge. A Wildcat error and a Johnson kill brought the Mountaineers within one of Davidson's lead, but Davidson edged ahead to take the set, 25-23. The Mountaineers and Wildcats traded the score on five occasions in the first, third, and fourth sets.
In the second set, the Mountaineers and Wildcats swapped the lead twice before App State established a 6-3 lead with a 4-0 run. With kills from Mackey, Hutchens and Morris, as well as a Wildcat error, App State maintained its lead (14-11). Mackey made back-to-back kills to push the Black and Gold ahead, 20-15. A block from the duo of Morris and Johnson, followed by a Hutchens kill, brought App State to set point (24-20). Heidemann set Winterhoff up for a kill as the Mountaineers took the set, 25-21.
The Mountaineers and Wildcats fought through a tight third set, tying things up on 11 occasions. Heidemann set Hutchens up for a kill to knot the score at 13 all and ignite a 5-1 run that featured a block from the duo of Contreras and Winterhoff, as well as kills from Morris, Mackey, and Contreras (17-14). Kills from Contreras and Johnson pushed the Black and Gold ahead, 22-18. A Hutchens kill and block from the duo of Morris and Winterhoff brought the Mountaineers to set point. Hutchens slammed down a kill to cap the set, 25-20.
App State and Davidson kept pace with each other early in the fourth and final set. Down 14-11, the Mountaineers found momentum with a 4-0 run that included a pair of kills from Johnson and Morris, as well as a block from Winterhoff and Hutchens. With a 7-1 run, App State pulled ahead, 22-17. In that time, Winterhoff made a kill, a solo block, and went up for blocks alongside Contreras and Mackey, and Morris registered a kill and served up an ace. App State sealed the set, 25-18, and the match 3-1, with a 3-0 run that included a kill from Contreras and blocks from the duo of Johnson and Mackey.
Looking Ahead
App State will open Sun Belt play with a pair of home matches against James Madison on Sept. 26 and 27. Friday's match is set for 6 p.m. and is Diggin' It night. There will be free hardhats available for fans. Saturday's Youth Day match is slated for 2 p.m. Admission for Saturday's match will be free for kids aged 12 and under. Both matches will be available to stream on ESPN+.
Mountaineer Classic All-Tournament Team
MVP Maya Winterhoff – App State
MeMe Davis - App State
Ali Morris - App State
Jordan Hummel - Davidson
Kinsey Smith – Davidson
Ngozi Iloh – Duke
