NEWARK, Del. - - Opening the 2012 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference schedule against rival Holy Family, the Wilmington University volleyball was out for revenge after falling to the Tigers three times last season, including getting knocked out of the CACC Tournament Semifinals.
The Wildcats (4-2, 1-0 CACC) responded with a four-set victory over the Tigers, 3-1, taking the last three games after dropping the opening set of the match in their home, CACC and new WU Athletic Complex opener on Wednesday night.
Set scores for the match were 25-27, 25-16, 25-19, and 25-20.
After dropping the first set after having an 18-14 lead, the Wildcats fired back in the second set, powered by four different runs of four-points or more.
Junior middle Katie Shorter had a hand on three of the first four points of the second set, opening the frame with a kill, before opening up a 4-0 lead with another kill and a block assist. Now trailing 10-9, Wilmington went on another run to turn the game around. Sophomore setter Kasey Couch dumped one over the net for a kill to knot the game at 10-10, followed by a solo block by freshman Kaitlin DiGiacinto. Holy Family (0-5, 0-1 CACC) did not help their cause by hitting three straight attack errors, giving the Wildcats a 14-10 lead.
Junior middle Brittany Biddle and freshman Alex Siolos widened the lead even more with two kills and a service ace to stretch the margin to 19-13. Wilmington also scored the final four points of the game to take the first set, as Siolos ended it with a kill, 25-16.
The Wildcats needed to come from behind in the third set, trailing midway through the game, 14-10. Wilmington took advantage of four consecutive Tiger attack errors to get back into the contest and took the lead on a DiGiacinto termination, 15-14.
The home team took the lead for good in the third set on another kill by DiGiacinto to put the Wildcats up 18-17. Senior Nicole Wiechecki got in on the action with a kill and Wilmington made it 20-17 with another attack error and never looked back. Another short three point swing put it out of reach for the Tigers and senior Brooke Foskey gave the Wildcats set point with a kill from Siolos. A final miscue of the set by Holy Family gave Wilmington the set, 25-19.
The fourth set was another back and forth battle as each team made similar runs throughout the first half of the game. But tied at 16-16, the Wildcats made one last push to finish off the Tigers. Kills by DiGiacinto and Biddle aided in the Wildcats winning four of the next five points to surge ahead, 20-17. Now at 20-19, the Wildcats again scored five of the next six points, including the final three to end the set, and win the match. A service ace by Annie Scarfo gave the Wildcats match-point as the team went on to win on another mistake by the Tigers.
The Wildcats hit .196 for the match, but more importantly held the Tigers to a .057 attack percentage. They also collected 11 total team blocks to Holy Family's three.
Leading the offensive attack for the Wildcats was Wiechecki and DiGiacinto who tallied 12 kills each. DiGiacinto also added a team high 17 digs. Wiechecki added 16 digs while two more Wildcats finished with double digit digs. Siolos added 13 defensive helpers while Couch added 10.
The offense was run through Siolos and Couch as each put up double figures in assists. Siolos led the way with 26 helpers while Couch added 15 assists.
At the net, Shorter denied four attacks herself and got a hand on four block assists as well. Siolos was on the other end a bulk of the time with shorter, as she picked up five block assists to lead the team. Biddle and DiGiacinto added one solo block apiece.
Wilmington remains at home this weekend as they get set to host the Wildcat Invitational. The Wildcats invite nine other teams to take part in the two day tournament starting on Friday. Wilmington will play Pace and St. Rose on Friday, and will come back to play Bentley and Davis & Elkins on Saturday. Their first game starts at 12 on Friday afternoon.
