NEWARK, Del. - - Another day, another win.
That is what it seems like for the Wilmington University volleyball team as it defeated Concordia, 3-0, on Saturday to tie its season long win streak at seven consecutive matches and remain unbeaten in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference for the season.
Set scores for the match were 25-18, 25-23, and 25-19.
The Wildcats also held a seven match win streak from September 1 to September 14.
Prior to the match, the Wilmington University Athletic Department recognized a former volleyball standout, Angie Estep-Cranford (2002-05), and inducted her as a member of the 2012 WU Athletic Hall of Fame Class.
Saturday was another distributed effort for the Wildcats (17-4, 9-0 CACC) as no player reached double digit kills, but had six players with at least four kills each. The two setters, Kasey Couch and Alex Siolos, passed out 15 assists each on the afternoon while Kaitlin DiGiacinto missed another double-double by one kill by picking up a match high 10 digs.
A 9-1 run early in the first set proved to be the deciding factor for the Wildcats, as the run culminated in an 11-6 advantage. Three straight kills by Nicole Wiechecki, Brooke Foskey and Katie Shorter gave the home team its largest lead of the first game at 15-8.
Concordia (2-12, 2-6 CACC) got to within two at 16-14, but the Wildcat put on the heat once more and scored nine of the final 13 points overall to close out the set, including the final four points, two of which came off the attack of Foskey and Brittany Biddle.
The Wildcats jumped out to a large lead in the second half before allowing the Clippers back into the frame late. Separate runs of five, five, and four consecutive points pushed the Wilmington lead to 19-10 while another kill by Shorter pushed it to nine once more at 20-11.
Concordia rallied to put six straight on the board and close the gap to 20-17 and had it as close as one at 23-22 and again at 24-23 before a final kill from Shorter ended any thought of a Clipper comeback, giving the Wildcats a 2-0 lead in the match.
Mini runs of three two and three straight points were the name of the game for the Wildcats in the third set. The game went back and forth through the first three quarters of the set, as the teams found themselves tied at 5-5, 8-8, 11-11, and for the final time at 16-16. Three of the next four points went to the Wildcats to give them a two point lead as the Clippers would not be able to recover.
Leading 20-19, the Wildcats scored five consecutive points to close out the match, no points bigger than back-to-back service aces by Wiechecki to give the home team match point and finish off the Clippers with a sweep.
DiGiacinto paced the Wildcat offense with nine kills while Wiechecki and Shorter tacked on six kills each. Siolos and Foskey added five terminations each while Biddle added the remaining four kills for Wilmington in the match. Shelby Henderson gave the team three points all on aces, while the team collected seven total.
At the net, the Wildcats out blocked the Clippers, 10-4 as a team, led by middles Shorter (one solo and three block assists) and Biddle (one solo and four block assists). Siolos got in on the act as week, finishing with one solo block and three block assists from the outside.
The team hit .213 for the match, but held the Clippers to a .063 attack percentage as a whole, gaining five more kills in the match than Concordia and committing eight less errors.
The Wildcats put their seven-match win streak and their perfect CACC record on the line on Tuesday as they welcome cross-town rival Goldey-Beacom to the WU Athletics Complex. The match is the team's annual Kay's Kamp game, so show your support by wearing pink or orange to that match. The game is schedulde to begin at 7 p.m.