A win in four sets splits the season series for the Wilmington University volleyball team with Philadelphia, as the Wildcats come back to take the final three games, 3-1, on Wednesday night at the WU Athletic Complex in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference South Division action.
Set scores for the match were 25-27, 27-25, 25-20, and 25-20.
The win revenges a loss against Philadelphia from earlier this season and moves the Wildcats (13-12, 9-3 CACC) a full game ahead of the Rams (11-11, 8-4 CACC) in the loss column in the conference.
The Wildcats held off two set points to grab their own set point in the first game of the night, 25-24, but the Rams battled back as the first game went into extra points. Erin Lyman tied the match with a kill before back-to-back kills from Corinne Justus gave the visitors the 1-0 lead, 27-25.
In a roll reversal, the Rams held off two set points at the end of the second set when the Wildcats led 24-22. The Rams tied the set at 24-24 before an attack error gave the Wildcats another set point. But a ball handling error on the Wildcats retied the match, 25-25. Eile Harris put down a kill for the 26th point before Alex Siolos tied the match, 1-1, with a kill to end the second set, 27-25.
The Wildcats jumped out early in the third set, leading 12-5 following a kill from Kaitlin DiGiacinto. But the Rams scored the next six points to get back into the set before finally tying the game, 13-13. Now leading 19-17, the Wildcats scored four straight with kills from Allison Briley and Erin Bistany, a solo block from Bistany, and a service ace from Jessica Star to lead 23-17. A Philadelphia attack error gave the Wildcats a 2-1 lead, 25-20.
A big run in the middle of the fourth set turned a 13-13 set into a 23-14 lead for the Wildcats, enabled them to come away with the four set victory. A DiGiacinto kill gave the Wildcats match point at 24-15, but the Rams battled back with five straight points to make things interesting. Leading 24-20, Harris put down her sixth and final kill of the night to give the Wildcats the 3-1 victory.
DiGiacinto led the Wildcats with15 kills while Siolos and Briley each tallied 13 terminations.
Siolos added a match high 29 assists as well as 12 digs to pick up her ninth triple-double of the season. DiGiacinto added 13 digs for a double-double while Kasey Couch dished out 22 assists and added 13 digs for her own double-double. Shelby Henderson led all with 28 digs in the match.
The Wildcats start their three-match week with an important victory and next head to USciences for another CACC South Division match on Friday. The first serve is set for 7 p.m. in Philadelphia.
