NEWARK, Del. - - The Wilmington University volleyball team bounced back after dropping the second set to win its 15th consecutive match, tying a program record, in defeating University of the Sciences, 3-1, in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference action on Friday night at the WU Athletics Complex.
Set scores for the match were 25-15, 22-25, 25-20 and 25-17, keeping Wilmington's record perfect inside the CACC.
Sophomore Kasey Couch ran an effective offense, passing out 27 assists in leading the Wildcats (25-4, 17-0 CACC) to 51 kills on 159 attempts. She finished with a double-double, also picking up 11 digs. Fellow setter Alex Siolos was a kill away from a triple-double for the second match this season, finishing with nine kills, 16 assists and 15 digs.
Junior middle hitters Brittany Biddle and Katie Shorter led the Wildcat attack, as Biddle led with a match high 13 kills on 21 swings, committing only two errors for a season's second best .524 attack percentage. Only playing in the first three sets, Shorter collected nine kills on 18 attempts with only two errors, hitting .389 for the match. She also got within one block assist of 200 for her career, denying three on the day while adding two block solos.
After winning the first set comfortably, the Devils (14-13, 8-8 CACC) stormed back from a 16-9 deficit in the second to tie the match. USciences rattled off four straight points to take a 20-19 lead before the Wildcats fired back with three straight to regain the lead, 22-20. But the visitors dug down even deeper and took the next five points, ending the set, 25-22, and tying the set, 1-1.
Wilmington jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the third set, with the first four points coming on the serve of Couch. The devils came back with five straight points to tie it at 7-7 before the Wildcats took the lead for good. Wilmington went on to score seven of the next eight points of the set to take a 14-8 lead, with an ace by Siolos and two kills from Biddle in the run. Another 7-2 swing by the Wildcats opened the game to 21-14 with Brooke Foskey getting a hand on three double blocks during the run. USciences closed to 24-20 with four straight points, but Biddle ended the third set with a kill, 25-20.
The Wildcats were in control of the fourth set from start to finish, putting the reason to their perfect conference record on display. Wilmington out of the gates and scored 11 of the first 15 points with Nicole Shuba getting in on the action with a kill for the 11th point, causing the Devils to use its first timeout. Another three point run pushed the lead to 18-11 and another Devils timeout following a kill from Kaitlin DiGiacinto. The teams traded points the rest of the game before the Wildcats earned back-to-back points on a service error and a DiGiacinto kill to close out the match, 25-17.
The team's 15th win in a row ties the program mark set by the 2004 squad which won 15 straight from October 2 to October 30 before going out of conference and dropping a match to Kutztown, 3-1.
Nicole Wiechecki added eight kills and a team high 18 digs in the match, bringing her career dig total to 993 in three years. DiGiacinto added 14 digs while Shelby Henderson picked up 11.
The Wildcats have a quick turnaround to try and keep their CACC record untouched, as they head off to CACC North Division leaders and also undefeated in the conference, Dominican for a Saturday match starting at 12 p.m. Dominican defeated Caldwell, 3-2, on Friday night to move to 20-7 overall and 16-0 in the CACC.
