NEWARK, Del. - - A trio of Wilmington University volleyball student-athlete each recorded career high on Friday night as the Wildcats defeated USciences, 3-1, to get back on track in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference South Division at the WU Athletics Complex.
Set scores for the match were 25-16, 21-25, 25-12, and 25-15.
Freshman Allison Briley led the offense with a new season high 17 kills and 39 swings while only committing a pair of errors. Sophomore Hannah Karas anchored the net defensively, collected a career best three solo blocks while adding a career best five block assists to lead the team with 5.5 blocks. Junior Kasey Couch also set a new career best, dishing out 29 assists to quarterback the offense.
Leading 12-10 in the first set, the Wildcats (17-9, 12-2 CACC) scored six straight points and went on an 8-2 run to take a commanding 20-11 lead in the opening game. The teams traded points for the rest of the set, as Allison Briley finished off the Devils (12-13, 7-7 CACC) with her third kill of the game, 26-16.
The Devils came out hot in the second set, charging to a 9-4 lead in the early going. The Wildcats could only get to within three points the rest of the way, closing the gap to 15-12 and 18-15 before the visitors opened the lead back up for good. Three straight points pushed the Devils' lead to 21-15before getting set point at 24-18. The Wildcats scored three straight to force the Devils into a timeout, but USciences was able to finally close it out to tie the match, 1-1, at 25-21.
The third set was all Wilmington, as the Wildcats bombarded the Devils with 15 of the first 17 points, including eight straight, seven of which came on the serve by Shelby Henderson. Four more points gave the Wildcats a 19-5 lead before the Devils rallied to close the gap to as close as 24-12. Briley again ended the third set for the Wildcats, this time with her sixth kill of the frame, 25-12.
The fourth set was more of the same for the Wildcats as they came back from 2-0 down to score seven of the next eight points to take the lead for good. Another 5-0 run pushed the lead to 13-6 for the home team but a double block by Brittany Biddle and Karas ended a streak of another five straight points for an 18-8 lead. At 21-10, the Devils scored three straight to force a timeout from the Wildcats, but Wilmington responded with four of the next six points to take the set, 25-15, and the match, 3-1, on a kill by Karas.
Sophomore Kaitlin DiGiacinto tallied 15 kills on the night, backing up her career night against Philadelphia on Wednesday offensively. Biddle and sophomore Alex Siolos chipped in with six kills while Karas ended with four. Siolos finished with her team leading 12th double-double, adding 17 assists and 11 digs to her line.
On the back line, Henderson led the team with 21 digs while Briley collected her fourth double-double of the season with a career high 18 digs. Couch added 11 digs for her ninth double-double to finish out the Wildcats with double figure digs.
As a team, the Wildcats out-blocked the Devils, 13-6, led by Karas at the net. Briley added the only other solo block for the Wildcats while Siolos chipped in with five block assists as well. Freshman Tia Williams added four block assists while Biddle and Briley added two block assists each to round out the blocking for the Wildcats.
The Wildcats will look to carry the momentum from Friday night's match into Saturday, as they travel to Post for a CACC North Division match in Waterbury, Conn. The match against the Eagles is set for a 1 p.m. start.