NEWARK, Del. - - Holy Family evened the series season and extended their winning streak to 13 straight on Wednesday night, defeating the Wilmington University volleyball team, 3-0, in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference South Division action at the WU Athletics Complex.
Set scores for the match were 25-16, 25-21, and 25-21.
Holy Family (21-8, 15-3 CACC) was able to get out to large leads early in the sets, being too much for the Wildcats (19-13, 11-7 CACC) to overcome. The Wildcats would make a comeback and cut into the deficits, but it would be too little too late in the final match at the WU Athletics Complex this season.
An 8-1 Wildcat run would give the Wildcats an 8-5 lead in the first set, but the Tigers answered right back as the set was tied 9-9. Mandy Behiels put down a kill to get within 13-12, but then the Tigers rattled off six straight points to open up a 19-12 lead. The Wildcats scored four of the next five points to climb to within 20-16, but that would be as close as they could get as the Tigers closed out the game on Gianna Pesognelli's serve, 25-16.
Holy Family then came out in the second set and scored 11 of the first 14 points, and led 17-7 after another 5-0 run. Wilmington went on a 6-1 run to get to within 18-13, and then used another 5-2 spurt to close the gap to within 21-18. The Tigers answered with three straight of their own to gain set point, 24-18. The Wildcats extended the game with three straight, but the Tigers moved ahead, 2-0, in the match with a 25-21 victory.
The Wildcats were up 4-1 in the third set, but the visitors rattled off eight straight points in route to a 15-2 run to go up 16-6. Down 19-10, the Wildcats scored six of the next seven points to claw to within 20-16 and a Rebecca Rawlinson kill had the home team within 23-19. The Wildcats were able to stave off two match points, but the Tigers put down a kill to end the match, 25-21.
Mandy Behiels led the Wildcats with eight kills while Rebecca Rawlinson put down five kills with a team leading .385 attack percentage. Rawlinson added six digs and four blocks. Angel Oliver also finished with five kills for the Wildcats.
Sarah Couch dished out 20 assists while Behiels and Elly Collins led with 14 digs each. Genevieve Hughes finished with 10 digs as well.
The Wildcats hit .068 as a tam while the Tigers hit .191 to go with nine aces on the night.
Wilmington closed out the regular season on Saturday with a road match at Caldwell. The match will determine who the Wildcats play in the first round of the CACC Tournament next Tuesday night.
