RUTHERFORD, N.J. - - Outside hitters Nicole Wiechecki and Kaitlin DiGiacinto led the Wilmington University volleyball team to its 10th straight overall win, helping the Wildcats remain unbeaten in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, sweeping Felician on the road on Saturday afternoon in Job Gym.
Wiechecki finished with a match high 13 kills while DiGiacinto was the only other student-athlete in double-digits with 10 kills to lead the Wildcats (20-4, 12-0 CACC) in the sweep. Felician (1-16, 1-10 CACC), which snapped a 42-match losing streak earlier this season, couldn't muster the offense to stop the streaking Wildcats.
Set scores for the match were 25-19, 25-15, and 25-16.
The first set was tied, 9-9, before the Wildcats ran off four straight points and 11 of the next 15 for a 20-13 lead. A wealth of players contributed in the run as DiGiacinto, Katie Shorter, Wiechecki and Alex Siolos all added kills in the streak. Annie Scarfo picked up an ace while Shorter and Brooke Foskey denied one attack by Felician before the score ballooned to 20-13. Felician closed to within 23-19 before committing consecutive attack errors to fall behind one set to none.
Wilmington earned a decisive triumph in the second set, hitting .394 for the set and leading, 22-8, before a late Golden Falcon rally fell short. The Wildcats used runs of four, six and five consecutive points early in the game to take a commanding 18-4 lead. Felician closed to within 23-15 with five straight points, but consecutive kills from Hannah McQueen and Wiechecki ended the set, 25-15.
The third set was deadlocked as late as 13-13 before a 9-1 run by the visitors helped them put away the match. The Wildcats scored three straight, forcing the Golden Falcons to use a timeout and scoring a point to push it to 16-14 in favor of Wilmington. The Wildcats then came out and scored the next six points to open the set at 22-14. With Shelby Henderson serving, Siolos scored the second point of the run while Henderson took care of two points on her own with back-to-back aces. DiGiacinto and Nicole Shuba ended the set, and the match, with consecutive kills at 25-16.
Kasey Couch and Siolos helped spread the offense around, dishing out 19 and 14 assists, respectively. Henderson led the way defensively, picking up a match high 11 digs. Brittany Biddle had two total blocks, denying on herself and added two block assists on the afternoon.
Wilmington, which hit .317 for the match, owned advantages of 6-1 in blocking and 10-2 in aces. Freshman Alex Siolos (East Moriches, N.Y./Westhampton Beach) filled the stat sheet with seven kills, 14 assists, seven digs and three aces for the Wildcats.
Standing atop the South Division, Wilmington will put its 10-match win streak and undefeated CACC mark on the line on Wednesday, squaring off against second place Philadelphia in Philadelphia starting at 7 p.m.