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NEWARK, Del. - - The Wilmington University volleyball team won their sixth straight Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference contest, sweeping the season series from USciences with a 3-1 victory on Wednesday night at the WU Athletics Complex.
Set scores for the match were 25-17, 25-18, 18-25, and 25-16.
The win was the 23rd consecutive victory over the Devils, dating back to the 2009 season.
The Wildcats (11-9, 7-1 CACC) dominated the first two sets, hitting .333 and .316, respectively.
In the first set, the Wildcats used a 9-2 run to break away from the Devils and lead 21-13. The Devils closed to within 22-17, but then Dorie Moore put down a kill and Mandy Behiels finished the set with an ace to win the game, 25-17.
The Wildcats then raced out to a 7-2 lead in the second set, getting a kill from Kaiya Medina to force the Devils into a timeout. The Devils hung around and were as close as 12-8 before the Wildcats went on a 7-2 run to take control and lead 19-11. A 4-0 run by the Devils brought them back to within 21-17, but kills from Katie Bushong and Jessica Connelly pushed the Wildcats lead to 23-17. Syniah McMiller gave the Wildcats set point before a block from Angel Oliver and Heather Pedrick gave the Wildcats a 2-0 lead, 25-18.
But the Devils weren't done, exploding out of the gates in the third set to a 14-5 lead. The lead grew to as large as 11 points, 17-6, before the Wildcats tried to claw their way back. But they could only get to as close as six points on multiple occasions before the Devils sided-out enough times to win the third set, 25-18.
But the Wildcats put their foot down in the fourth game, jumping out to a 9-2 lead, led by a 7-0 spurt on the service game of Heather Pedrick. Another 4-0 run gave the Wildcats a 15-6 lead, forcing the Devils into their second timeout of the game. The Devils got to within six, 15-9, but that's as close as they would get the rest of the way. Leading 22-15, the Wildcats got a kill from Mandy Behiels before a Devils' error gave the Wildcats match point. Kaiya Medina ended the match with a kill, 25-16.
Heather Pedrick collected her NCAA DII leading sixth triple-double of the year, putting down 11 kills, dishing out 23 assists, and adding 16 digs. Jessica Connelly also led the team with 11 kills while Mandy Behiels was the final Wildcat in double figures with 10 kills, adding 12 digs. Katie Bushong dished out 21 assists while Elly Collins led the back row with 19 digs.
Angel Oliver had six kills on eight swings without an error, hitting .750 while picking up two solo blocks and three block assists. Dorie Moore added a solo block and two block assists while Heather Pedrick was there for three block assists as well.
The Wildcats will look to continue their run in the CACC with another home contest on Saturday against Nyack. The first serve is set for 1:00 p.m. at the WU Athletics Complex.
