Volleyball Shuts Down High-Powered Rams, 3-1, in Key CACC South Division Battle

Photo of Dorie Moore putting down a kill against Jefferson. Copyright 2021; Wilmington University. All rights reserved. Photo by Dan Lauletta. October 5, 2021 vs. Jefferson.
Photo of Dorie Moore putting down a kill against Jefferson. Copyright 2021; Wilmington University. All rights reserved. Photo by Dan Lauletta. October 5, 2021 vs. Jefferson.

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NEWARK, Del. - - The Wilmington University volleyball team shut down the high-powered offense of Thomas Jefferson University, capturing the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference South Division contest, 3-1, on Tuesday night at the WU Athletics Complex.

Set scores for the match were 25-18, 15-25, 25-16, and 25-16.

The win snapped a streak of 10 straight losses to the Rams by the Wildcats.

The defense kept the high-powered offense of the Rams (13-2, 4-2 CACC) down all night, holding them to hitting .203 while collecting 61 digs and six blocks. The Wildcats' (9-7, 5-1 CACC) offense hit .264 for the match with 47 kills and eight aces.

Tied at 10-10 in the first set, the Wildcats went on an 8-4 run, capped by a Mandy Behiels ace, to take n 18-14 lead. Another 4-0 spurt, aided by three straight Ram attack errors, gave the Wildcats a 22-15 lead. Heather Pedrick gave the Wildcats their 23rd point before Katie Bushong gave the Wildcats set point. Another attack error gave the Wildcats the first set, 25-18.

The Rams used a 5-1 run to jump out to a 17-10 lead in the second set, and the Wildcats could only get to within as few as four points the rest of the way. The Rams closed the set on a 7-2 run, including the final three points of the set, 25-16.

The service game of Heather Pedrick gave the Wildcats a 9-0 head start in the third set, as she had two aces, Angel Oliver had two kills, and Jessica Connelly has three kills. The Wildcats didn't allow the Rams to make any large runs in the set to claw back into, and then used a 5-1 run to take the lead, getting a kill from Connelly to win, 25-16.

The Wildcats again started fast in the fourth set, taking a 5-1 lead. But this time the Rams answered and was back to within a point, 10-9. Another great service run which included three services aces from Heather Pedrick aided an 8-2 run for the Wildcats, taking an 18-11 lead. The teams traded points until the Wildcats scored the final three points of the match, getting a kill from heather Pedrick, a block from Angel Oliver and Jessica Connelly, and a Rams' error to end the match, 25-16.

Mandy Behiels led the Wildcats with 12 kills while hitting .226 and added 12 digs. Heather Pedrick had 10 kills while hitting .308, 22 assists, nine digs, and five aces. Jessica Connelly chipped in with 10 kills while hitting .320 as well. Angel Oliver had eight kills to go with three block assists. Elly Collins led the back row with 18 digs.

The Wildcats hit the road for the rest of the week, as they stay in the CACC South Division but head to Philadelphia to take on Chestnut Hill on Thursday night. The first serve against the Griffins is set for 7:00 p.m.