NEWARK, Del. - - Another dominating performance gave the Wilmington University volleyball team its eighth straight victory overall and brings the Wildcats to 10-0 in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference with a 3-0 sweep over Goldey-Beacom on Tuesday night at the WU Athletics Complex.
The win was the 11th straight for the Wildcats (18-4, 10-0 CACC) over Goldey-Beacom (4-13, 0-9 CACC) and kept their foot on the gas pedal in the conference. The 10-0 start in the conference is the best start since the 2004 team finished the regular season 20-0 and went on to capture the CACC Tournament Championship.
Junior Katie Shorter was again a force at the net, as the middle hitter collected a match high 10 kills on swings, and finished with 4.5 of the teams six total blocks. She denied three Goldey-Beacom attacks by herself while getting a hand on three more block assists.
The first set was back and forth between the cross-town rivals, as the Wildcats needed to make a four point run early to take a 6-5 lead. A kill by Shorter started the rally while back-to-back double blocks by Shorter and Alex Siolos, and Shorter and Nicole Wiechecki gave the Wildcats a brief lead. Another three point run put the Wildcats up 10-8 as Kaitlin DiGiacinto, Brittany Biddle and Alex Siolos all came down with kills. Later in the set, a three point run put allowed the Wildcats to distance themselves for good, as Wiechecki collected a kill and Shorter had a solo block on the run to make it 17-13. Brooke Foskey ended the set with her second kill of the set, 25-22.
The Wildcats jumped out to a large lead in the second set, taking a tied 2-2 set to an 8-2 advantage in favor of the home team. Three Lightning attack errors aided in the seven point swing while Annie Scarfo added back-to-back service aces and Shorter had a kill and a block assist with Wiechecki. But the Lightning battled back to eventually take a 19-18 lead late in the game.
Wilmington buckled down however, securing seven of the next eight points overall to come back and take the set, 25-20. Three straight Goldey-Beacom attack errors gave the Wildcats a 21-19 lead before a kill from Shorter and another attack error made it 23-19. Following a service error by Foskey, Shorter denied any attempt at a comeback with back-to-back kills to finish the set, 25-20.
In the third set, the Wildcats jumped out to a 19-12 lead with the help of a four point run midway through the set. A kill from Biddle made it 16-12 in favor of the Wildcats before back-to-back kills by Foskey turned it into the largest lead for the Wildcats of the set at 19-12. Now at 29-15, the Wildcat rattled off six straight points, finishing the set and the match on the serve of Nicole Shuba. Wiechecki added two kills in the run while Shorter picked up another kill and another solo block, giving the home team match point. An attack error by Goldey-Beacom ended the match, 25-15.
Wiechecki was a kill away from another double-double on the year, as she finished with nine kills and 12 digs. She also added two service aces from beyond the line. DiGiacinto paced the back line with a match high 20 digs on the night and added four kills up front.
Foskey nearly picked up a double-double of her own, as she finished with seven kills and 11 digs on the night. Freshman Alex Siolos dished out a career high 31 assists in the three sets, adding four kills, five digs, and a block assists as the lone setter on the court for the majority of the contest.
The win also extended the Wildcats season long winning streak to eight consecutive matches, dating back to September 19 when the streak started against Georgian Court. The team also had a seven-match winning streak from September 1 to September 11.
The Wildcats will look to continue the winning streak this weekend as they host Georgian Court on Friday for a match starting at 7 p.m. at the WU Athletics Center. They then head to Felician on Saturday to complete a full CACC weekend.
