NEWARK, Del. - - Adelphi spoiled the 2022 home debut of the Wilmington University volleyball team, defeating the Wildcats, 3-1, on Friday night as a part of the Wildcat Regional Invitational at the WU Athletics Complex.
Set scores for the match were 25-21, 25-23, 13-25, and 25-18.
The Wildcats (1-9) had chances throughout the night, especially in the second set to tie the match, 1-1, but faltered down the stretch against the Panthers (4-5). The Wildcats collected more digs in the match, 96-87, but the Panthers had more kills, 57-50, aces, 8-3, and blocks, 11-9.
The Panthers jumped out to a large lead in the first set, 19-10, before the Wildcats fought back. They closed the gap to 22-21, ending on a 5-0 run to get back into the set. But out of an Adelphi timeout, the Panthers answered with the final three points of the set to take the lead, 25-21.
The Wildcats raced out to an early lead in the second set, as a Ki'i Rilveria came up with an ace to make it 6-1. The Panthers fought back to get to within 9-7, but then the Wildcats rattled off five straight to take a 14-7 lead. Wilmington led 16-10 before the Panthers went on a 6-1 run to get within one, 17-16. The teams traded points before the Panthers tied the set, 20-20. The teams again traded points with the Wildcats leading 23-22. But a Panther block sparked a 3-0 run to end the set and give the Panthers the 2-0 lead, 25-23.
Wilmington turned a 9-8 deficit into a 16-9 lead with an 8-0 run, getting three kills from Dorie Moore in the last four points. Adelphi got as close as 17-12, but then the Wildcats put the set away with a 6-0 spurt receiving kills from Ki'i Rilveria, Brice Hansen, Kacey Affrunti in the run. Brice Hansen gave the Wildcats set point with a kill and then ended the set with an ace, 25-13.
The fourth set was tied 8-8 before the Panthers started to pull away. They used a 5-0 run to take the lead for good. The Wildcats went on a 4-1 run to close to within 16-13, but the Panthers answered with a 6-2 run of their own to regain a 22-15 lead. The Wildcats got back-to-back points to get within 24-18, before the Panthers ended the set, 25-18, and the match, 3-1.
Heather Pedrick led the Wildcats with 13 kills while hitting .290 for the match. Brice Hansen had 11 kills in her home debut, adding 16 digs and two aces. Dorie Moore put down nine kills while hitting .368 and collecting four blocks and the other middle hitter Kacey Affrunti finished with eight kills and two block assists. Katie Bushong dished out 32 assists and added a double-double with 14 digs while Elly Collins led the back row with 34 digs.
The 2022 Wildcat Regional Invitational resumes on Saturday as the Wildcats will play two matches. They start at 11:30 a.m. against New Haven and then round out the tournament with a match against Saint Rose at 7:00 p.m.
