NEWARK, Del. - - Kickstarting the 2022 Wilmington University Homecoming festivities, the volleyball team made short work of Dominican, sweeping the Chargers, 3-0, on Saturday afternoon at the WU Athletics Complex.
Set scores for the match were 25-14, 25-17, and 25-21.
The Wildcats' (5-11, 3-2 CACC) defense was all over the floor, with three student-athletes recording 11 or more digs in the three sets, including Elly Collins who picked up a match high 25. The players at the net added eight blocks on the afternoon, holding the Chargers to a team hitting percentage of .087.
Dominican (6-6, 4-1 CACC) held a 6-3 lead to start the match, but then the Wildcats ran off runs of 4-0, 5-0, and 3-0, in part of a 12-2 run to take a 15-8 lead. The Chargers fought back to within 16-13, but another 4-0 run forced Dominican into their second timeout with the Wildcats leading, 20-13. Kills from Brice Hansen, heather Pedrick, Kacey Affrunti, and Jess Connelly, gave the Wildcats set point before an attack error gave the Wildcats the game, 25-14.
The second set was tied 4-4 before the Wildcats separated themselves with a 5-0 run which extended to a 10-2 run to take a 14-6 lead. The Chargers got to within 16-10 but then kills from Heather Pedrick and Jess Connelly put the Wildcats ahead, 19-10. Pedrick eventually gave the Wildcats set point and then Brice Hansen gave the Wildcats a 2-0 lead with a kill, 25-17.
The Wildcats stormed out to an 11-5 lead, capped by a 5-0 run with a block by Pedrick and Dorie Moore. Out of a Dominican timeout, the Chargers went on a 7-1 run to tie the set, 12-12, and then used another 4-0 run to take the lead, 16-15. The teams traded points back and forth until the Chargers gained a 20-19 lead. Heather Pedrick put down a kill to tie the set 20-20, and then it was the Brice Hansen show, as she followed with four straight terminations to give the Wildcats match point, 24-20. Dominican got the serve back with a kill, but the ensuing service was in the net and the Wildcats won the match, 3-0.
Brice Hansen led the Wildcats with 11 kills while only committing one error, hitting .270 for the match. She also added 15 digs and had a block assist. Heather Pedrick had nine kills, five digs, and four block assists while Kacey Affrunti and Jess Connelly finished with seven kills each. Affrunti hit .667 with only one error. Dorie Moore had a hand on five block assists while Katie Bushong finished with a double-double with 32 assists and 11 digs. Elly Collins led all with her 25 digs.
The Wildcats make the short trip down the road to Goldey-Beacom for their next match, as they face the Lightning on Tuesday night. First serve in the Joseph West Jones Center is set for 7:00 p.m.
