LAKEWOOD, N.J. - - There is an old adage involved in sports that it is tough to defeat a team three times in one season.
The Wilmington University volleyball team faced that reality as it fell to Georgian Court, 3-0, in the 2013 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Semifinals on Friday afternoon at the Wellness Center on the campus of Georgian Court.
Set scores for the match were 20-25, 23-25, and 20-25.
The Wildcats (23-10 overall) defeated the Lions (19-12 overall) both times in the regular season with each match going the distance, but fell to the Lions in the postseason in the CACC Semifinals. Wilmington was the South Division's No. 1 seed after winning the CACC South Division Regular Season Championship while the Lions were the South Division's No. 3 seed.
The offense couldn't get going on Friday afternoon as the team high .103 for the match with only 21 kills against the Lions. The defense held the team in the contest as the Wildcats out-blocked the Lions, 14-7, with 11 solo blocks and six block-assists on the afternoon.
Brittany Biddle and Kaitlin DiGiacinto led the offense with six kills each while Allison Briley and Alex Siolos chipped in with three terminations a piece. Katie Shorter added a pair of kills while Hannah Karas rounded out the offense with a kill on the afternoon. Siolos dished out 10 assists while Kasey Couch added six helpers.
Defensively, the DiGiacinto tallied six digs while Annie Scarfo tallied five in the three sets. Shelby Henderson added four digs while Couch chipped in with three digs on the defensive end. At the net, Shorter denied six attempts single handily, while getting a hand on a pair of block assists. DiGiacinto collected three solo blocks with adding one block assist. Briley and Siolos also collected solo blocks in the match.
The Lions were led by Anabelle Barinas who collected 14 kills and Tatiana Villariny with 13 terminations. Jaslene Lopez dished out 29 assists while Francheska Cedres was able to get to 22 digs on the back row.
The Lions move on to the 2013 CACC Tournament Championship match to face the South Division's No. 2 seed Philadelphia who took care of the North Division's No. 1 seed Caldwell, 3-1, in the second semifinal. The championship match is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m.
The match was the last for Biddle, Shorter, and Scarfo who each played four seasons under head coach Kim Huggins-Habbert. The trio helped bring the program to the top of the CACC, winning each of the past two South Division Regular Season Championships and earning a trip to the CACC Tournament Semifinals in each of the past three seasons.
The Wildcats' fate now rest on the hands of the NCAA East Region Committee to earn an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA Selection show is scheduled for Monday, November 25.