The Wilmington University volleyball team used the momentum from a late second set comeback to sweep Chestnut Hill, 3-0, in the Wildcats home and Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference opener on Wednesday night at the WU Athletics Complex.
Set scores for the match were 25-14, 27-25, and 25-16.
The Wildcats (2-3, 1-0 CACC) used the strong arms of Allison Briley and Alex Siolos to power their way past the Griffins (1-5, 0-1 CACC), outhitting their counterparts, .177 to .053.
A comeback was needed in the second set, as the Wildcats found themselves trailing 21-17 after the Griffins won six of seven points to gain control.
Freshman Angela Collins started a string of three straight points for the Wildcats with a kill, followed by back-to-back kills by Siolos. Following a point from the Griffins, the Wildcats rattled off three more points, all by errors on the Griffins, to give the home team a 23-22 lead.
But the Griffins fought back to tie the match at 23, again at 24, and a final time at 25-25. A service error gave the Wildcats set point at 26-25 and Kaitlin DiGiacinto cemented the late game comeback with a kill to give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead.
The Wildcats kept the momentum from the second set into the third game, jumping out to a 7-1 lead. The Griffins battled back to as close as 10-7, but the Wildcats opened leads of 14-8 and 17-11 to hold off the visitors.
Back-to-back service aces from Siolos gave the Wildcats set and match point, and Briley ended the game three points later with her 15th and final kill for the sweep.
Briley led all attackers with her 15 kills while Siolos finished with 11 terminations. Siolos added a double-double with 12 assists while Kasey Couch led the team with 20 assists. Couch finished with a double-double adding 10 digs while Shelby Henderson led the team with 20. DiGiacinto chipped in with 10 digs for the Wildcats.
The Wildcats remain at home this weekend as they host their Wildcat Regional Invitational at the WU Athletics Complex starting on Friday at 3 p.m. The Wildcats will play Dowling and Bentley on Friday before finishing the tournament with matches against Merrimack and Stonehill on Saturday.
