Copyright 2016; Wilmington University. All rights reserved. File photo of Briley, taken by Frank Stallworth.

NEWARK, Del. - - The Wilmington University volleyball team dropped a three-set match to Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference North Division foe Caldwell on Friday night at the WU Athletics Complex.

Set scores for the match were 23-25, 23-25, and 10-25.

The Wildcats (9-17, 6-11 CACC) had chances to win the first two sets, but led late points slip away in enabling the Cougars  (18-10, 11-5 CACC) to jump on top. Then the Cougars put the Wildcats away by hitting .542 in the third set, not committing an error in the final game.

Trailing 21-16 in the first set, the Wildcats came storming back with a 7-2 run to tie the set at 23 a piece. But a service error broke up a 3-0 run which tied it, giving Caldwell set point. A ball handling error gave the Cougars the opening game, 25-23.

Trailing 16-15 in the second set, the Wildcats sparked another late run, this time rattling off six of the next seven points to take a 21-17 lead. But the Cougars responded with a 7-0 run of their own, retaking a 24-21 lead and gaining three set points. Allison Briley and Rebecca Rawlinson put down back-to-back kill to get to within 24-23, but the Cougars picked up the final point on a Taryn Auyong kill to move ahead, 2-0.

The third set was all Caldwell, as they came out with a 4-0 run to take an early 6-2 lead. Another mini 3-0 spurt put the visitors up 12-5, before a Wildcat attack error moved the Caldwell lead up to 15-6. The Cougars rattled off another five straight points to move ahead 22-9 before taking the final three points of the set, ending the match with an ace, 25-10.

Briley led the Wildcats with 10 kills while only committing two errors on 37 swings. She finished with a hitter's best .216 attack percentage for the Wildcats. Jenna Brown led the back row with 17 digs while Jill Braunsberg added 13 digs and 10 assists for the double-double. Miranda Shaw dished out 14 assists while Eile Harris led the defense at the net with four block assists and one solo block.

The Wildcats wrap up their nonconference schedule with their next date of competition, heading to Southern Connecticut State on Sunday for a tri-match. The Wildcats will start the day against Southern New Hampshire at 1:00 p.m. before playing the host SCSU Owls at 3:00 p.m.