PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - - The Wilmington University volleyball team collected its second best hitting percentage of the 2019 season, and the first since the season opener, in a 3-0 sweep at Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference South Division rival Holy Family on Tuesday night in the Campus Center Gym.
Set scores for the match were 26-24, 25-21, and 25-19.
The Wildcats (11-7, 3-3 CACC) snapped a two-match losing streak by coming out and hitting. .257 in the match, their best effort since their season opening win against Saint Rose with a .323 attack percentage. The Wildcats put down 41 kills with only 13 errors in the match.
The team came out and put a match high 17 terminations down in the opening set, hitting .239 in the opening game. But it wasn't as easy as that for the Wildcats, as the first game went back and forth. Tied at 17-17, an Angel Oliver kill started a 3-0 run en route to Dorie Moore giving the Wildcats a 23-18 lead with a kill. Bailey Andrews then set up set point with a kill, but the Tigers (8-8, 3-3 CACC) held off the final point, going on a 5-0 run of their own to tie the game, 24-24. Mandy Behiels ended the spurt with a kill, and then put the Tigers away with another kill, winning the set, 26-24.
Holy Family started quickly in the second set, jumping out to a 5-0 lead. The Wildcats started to slowly claw back, and got to within on, 8-7, with a kill from Behiels. An ace put the Tigers up 20-16, but the Wildcats would go on a tide-turning run. Angel Oliver had a solo block followed by a Rebecca Rawlinson ace to get back to 20-19. Oliver than put down a kill to tie the set, forcing a Holy Family timeout. Back-to-back kills from Bailey Andrews forced another Tiger timeout, but the run continued with Rawlinson serving, going up 24-20 with an Angel Oliver kill. Bailey Andrews put Wilmington up, 2-0, with a kill, 25-21.
The Tigers started the third set on another 4-0 run, but the Wildcats answered by scoring nine of the next 11 points to take a 9-6 lead. Rawlinson added another ace to her stat sheet to put the Wildcats up 15-11, and the Tigers were only able to get within two points the rest of the match. Leading 17-15, the Wildcats scored back-to-back points and went on a 4-1 run to extend the lead out to 21-16. An error gave the serve back to Rawlinson, and she collected another ace before Bailey Andrews put down a kill to end the set, 25-19, and the match, 3-0.
The Wildcats hit a match best .303 in the second set, putting down 13 kills while only committing three errors on 33 attempts.
Bailey Andrews led the Wildcats with a match high 12 kills, hitting .320 on the night. Mandy Behiels added nine kills to go with 13 digs while Rebecca Rawlinson had eight kills, three aces, two solo blocks, and one block assist. Angel Olive tacked on seven kills with a .462 attack percentage, adding two solo blocks.
Sarah Couch dished out 37 assists (12.34 a set), while Elly Collins led the back row with 24 digs (8.00 per set).
The Wildcats return home for their next match, as they host Chestnut Hill on Thursday night. The first serve is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at the WU Athletics Complex.