WILMINGTON, Del. - - The back row defense of freshmen Shelby Henderson and Hannah McQueen led the Wilmington University volleyball team to its 14th straight victory, sweeping Goldey-Beacom to remain undefeated in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference and win the regular season championship on Tuesday night at the Jones Center.
Set scores for the match were 25-17, 25-15 and 25-13.
The win, coupled with a Philadelphia University loss to the University of Sciences, help gives Wilmington (24-4, 16-0 CACC) the CACC South Division regular season championship outright with three conference matches remaining. Goldey-Beacom (4-19, 0-15 CACC) suffered its 16th loss in row with the sweep.
The Wildcat defense held the Lightning to a .010 hitting percentage for the match, while Henderson led all student-athletics with 19 digs. McQueen was second on the team, setting a new career high with 12 digs while playing all three sets. McQueen also added a new career high with four kills in the sweep.
The first set was the closest contested game of the match, as the teams were all square as later a 9-9. From there, the Wildcats went on a 10-1 run to open up the set and take control of the match. With Nicole Wiechecki serving, the Wildcats rattled off seven straight points to gain a 19-10 advantage. Katie Shorter, Kaitlin DiGiacinto, Alex Siolos and Wiechecki all picked up kills on the run.
The Lightning closed to as near at six at 21-15, but Wilmington scored four of the next six points to take the opening set. Kasey Couch started the run with a kill before Brittany Biddle made it 23-15 with a solo block. DiGiacinto and Wiechecki finished off the set with back-to-back kills.
With multiple runs of four straight points, the Wildcats opened an 11-6 lead in the second set. Still leading 14-11, the Wildcats rattled off five straight points to open the gap and command the set. After a solo block by Shorter gave the visitors an 18-11 lead, Shorter and Hannah Karas combined for a double block to make it 19-11. Back-to-back-to-back kills from Wiechecki, McQueen and Biddle gave Wilmington a two set lead, winning the second game, 25-15.
The Wildcats jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the third set, leaving little doubt of the upcoming sweep. Henderson collected three straight service aces on the run. Another three point swing later in the game gave the wildcats its largest lead at 12, 19-7. DiGiacinto and Siolos collected kills on the run. Wilmington finished off the game and the match by scoring six of the final eight points overall with DiGiacinto sending the visitors home with an ace on the final point.
Biddle finished with four kills on the night, totaling 557 in her three year career, moving her into fourth overall on the all-time career list in Wilmington program history.
The regular season championship is the first since the CACC went to the split division format in 2007. The 2004 squad went a perfect 20-0 in the conference for the only other regular season championship, winning the conference outright. It is a feat the 2012 team could still complete with three CACC matches remaining.
The Wildcats will try to remain undefeated in the conference this weekend with a pair of matches. Wilmington first welcomes University of the Sciences to the WU Athletics Complex on Friday night starting at 7 p.m.