Defense Leads Wilmington Volleyball Past Goldey-Beacom in Straight Sets

Defense Leads Wilmington Volleyball Past Goldey-Beacom in Straight Sets

The defense of the Wilmington University volleyball team helped lead to a 3-0 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference sweep on Tuesday night at the WU Athletics Complex.

Set scores for the match were 25-12, 25-14, and 25-15.

Wilmington (11-11, 7-2 CACC) extended its winning streak to five straight with the sweep, keeping Goldey-Beacom (10-11, 4-7 CACC) to a .052 hitting percentage for the match.

The Wildcats out-blocked the Lightning, 9-1, for the match, including a stretch in the second set in which four out of five points, and six points overall in the game, came via a block on the right side of the defense. Combinations of Alex Siolos, Erin Bistany and Hannah Karas contributed to the run in the middle of the second set, forcing the Lightning into 12 errors in the second frame and a negative .048 hitting percentage.

Offensively, the Wildcats didn't make a mistake in the first set, collecting 12 kills on 25 attempts, hitting .480 to come away with the 25-12 victory. The team hit .297 for the match, picking up 32 kills with only five errors on 91 attempts.

The Wildcats also earned their serve back at an 81 percent clip for the match, siding out 11-of-13 times in the first set for a match high 84 percent. They were above 75 percent in all three games, siding out 78 percent in the second and 81 percent in the third stanzas.

Kaitlin DiGiacinto led the Wildcats with nine kills without committing an error, hitting .375 for the match. The junior also picked up a team high 11 digs, adding to her night. DiGiacinto was honored prior to the match for becoming the sixth member of the 1,000 Career Dig Club in program history.

Allison Briley collected eight kills with only one error, hitting .350 for the match. Kasey Couch dished out 13 assists while Alex Siolos helped with 12 assists. Shelby Henderson added 10 digs for the match.

At the net, Karas and Bistany finished with five block assists each for the night, while Eile Harris added three block assists and the lone solo block of the night for the Wildcats.

The Wildcats will look to keep their momentum into the weekend, as they host CACC South Division rival Georgian Court on Friday at the WU Athletics Complex. Game time has been moved up an hour with the first serve set for 6 p.m.