Volleyball Drops Regular Season Finale to Felician, 3-1

File photo of Angel Oliver who collected 12 total blocks at Felician. Copyright 2021; Wilmington University. All rights reserved. Photo by Mitchell Coll. November 10, 2021 vs. Georgian Court.
File photo of Angel Oliver who collected 12 total blocks at Felician. Copyright 2021; Wilmington University. All rights reserved. Photo by Mitchell Coll. November 10, 2021 vs. Georgian Court.

Press release written by Associate Athletics Director Erin Harvey

RUTHERFORD, N.J. - - Wilmington University saw their regular season come to a close at the hands of a 3-1 loss to the host Golden Falcons of Felician University.  Set scores for the match were 18-25, 25-15, 19-25, and 21-25.

The Wildcats (20-12; 14-4 CACC) were hoping to carry some momentum into the postseason, but ran into a scrappy and hard fighting Felician (11-18 CACC; 9-8) squad.  The Golden Falcons outhit the visitors and turned Wilmington errors into key points in their four-set victory.

The two teams battled back and forth early in the first set, before a Catherine Lentsch kill started a 11-5 run to close out the frame for Felician. 

The second set featured much of the same to start, but a Katie Bushong kill put the Wildcats up 11-10 and started a run of four straight hitting errors from the Golden Falcons.  A Heather Pedrick kill and ace made it 16-11 in favor of Wilmington.  Felician would get within four (18-14), but Wilmington closed out the set on a 7-1 run and evened things up at one. 

A quick 4-1 spurt on a pair of kills each from Jessica Connelly and Angel Oliver gave the Wildcats a 4-1 lead to start the 3rd set, but that momentum was short lived as the answered with a 7-1 run that put the hosts up 8-4.  Wilmington would get would get as close as two after a Dorie Moore kill and a Golden Falcon error cut the deficit to 21-19, but Lentch once again carried Felician down the stretch, scoring three of the last four points of the set.

Featuring much of the same back and forth action, the fourth set saw the teams see saw back and forth early on.  Kills from Pedrick and Oliver put Wilmington ahead 13-11, but the Golden Falcons responded 4-1 spurt to go ahead 17-14.  The Wildcats answered right back with a 4-1 run of their own to tie things at 18.  Again the teams traded points and at 20-all, key errors by the Wilmington offense gave Felician the edge and hosts took the set and a match on back-to-back kills from Maddie Sloan and Jelena Vucic.

The Wildcats were led by Angel Oliver, who continued her dominating performance at the net with 12 total blocks and nine kills.  Jessica Connelly added 11 kills, while Heather Pedrick chipped in with six kills, 18 assists, and 20 digs.  Mandy Behiels had nine kills and 14 digs, while Elly Collins recorded 28 digs from the libero position.

Wilmington now turns their sites to the CACC Championship Tournament next week.  The Wildcats, the second seed in the Southern Division, will play host to the North's #3 seed Post University.  First serve is slated for 6 PM on Tuesday evening.