PHILADELPHIA - - Aided by a strong offensive attack in the fourth set and an advantage at the net, the Wilmington University volleyball team picked up its first win of the 2013 season, a 3-1 victory over Chestnut Hill on Wednesday night in Sorgenti Arena.
Set scores for the match were 22-25, 25-12, 25-17, and 25-17.
After dropping the first set, Wilmington (1-3, 1-0 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference) came back and swept the next three sets, using a .414 attack percentage in the fourth set to close out the match. Chestnut Hill (0-4, 0-1 CACC) scored five straight points to take a 24-20 first set led before closing out the game to take the lead.
The Wildcats came out in the second set and dominated from the beginning, jumping out to a 10-4 lead on the strength of six straight points to break a 4-4 tie. Once the Griffins cut the deficit to 11-8, the Wildcats powered its way to nine consecutive points, with two kills by freshman Allison Briley, to take a 20-9 lead. Sophomore Kaitlin DiGiacinto gave the visitors set point before a Griffin attack error gave the Wildcats the game.
With the Wildcats trailing 5-2 early in the third set, the Wildcats rattled off 13 of the next 15 points to take command of the game. Junior Kasey Couch, a bad set, and a double block put the Wildcats up 20-12 before a solo block by Hannah McQueen gave Wilmington the set and the 2-1 match advantage.
The fourth set was the best offensively for the Wildcats, as they put down 13 kills on 29 attempts with only one error for a .414 hitting percentage. Trailing 4-3, DiGiacinto started a run of five straight points for the Wildcats, which featured a pair of service aces by Alex Siolos. Another 6-0 sparked by a kill from Brittany Biddle and ended with a kill from Briley to put the Wildcats up 16-6 midway through the set. Leading 20-15, Wilmington scored five of the next seven points to close out the set, and the match, with McQueen putting down the final termination to win the set, 25-17.
Briley, a freshman from Monroeville, Pa., paced the offense with 13 kills on 33 swings, producing a .303 hitting percentage. DiGiacinto added 10 kills and 15 digs for the double-double while Siolos added her own double-double with a team high 19 assists and 12 digs. Couch chipped in with 18 assists while Shelby Henderson and Scarfo each added double-digit digs from the back row.
Shorter led the defense at the net with four block assists while adding a solo block for 2.5 total blocks. DiGiacinto and McQueen each added a solo block while Biddle, DiGiacinto, and McQueen chipped in with two block assists each as well. Overall, the Wildcats out-blocked the Griffins, 10-2, for the match.
Wilmington will look to carry the momentum from its first victory of the season into its second weekend tournament starting on Friday. The Wildcats head to St. Petersburg, Fla. to participate in the Eckerd College Classic for four matches. They start the tournament with matches against host Eckerd and Nova Southeastern on Friday afternoon.