NEWARK, Del. - - After a close first set, the Wilmington University volleyball team was able to take care of Felician, 3-0, for their first Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference victory of the season on Tuesday night at the WU Athletics Complex.
Set scores for the match were 28-26, 25-13, and 25-14.
The win is the first CACC victory of the season for the Wildcats (5-7, 1-0 CACC), as they snapped a three-match overall losing streak. Felician (1-6, 0-2 CACC) committed 23 errors and hit just .023 in the loss.
The first set as the closest of the three, as Felician grabbed a 13-8 lead with a 6-1 run. Back-to-back kills by Eile Harris brought the Wildcats to within 13-11, before the Wildcats were finally able to tie the set at 19. The teams traded the next three points before the Golden Falcons picked up a block to take a 22-20 lead. But the Wildcats didn't shy away, using a kill from Jill Braunsberg started a 4-0 run. Another Braunsberg kill gave the Wildcats set point at 24-22.
Felician answered back, however, as an ace and a Paulina Calero kill gave set back to Felician, 25-24. Mandy Behiels served up an ace to give the Wildcats another set point, 26-25, but an attack error retied the game at 26-26. Brittany Ford clipped the back line for a 27-26 lead before Erin Bistany ended the set with a kill, 28-26.
From there it was all Wilmington, as they scored 12 of the first 16 points in the second set to keep the momentum. Behiels capped another 4-0 run with an ace to give the Wildcats an 18-7 lead before the teams traded points back and forth until the Wildcats secured the final two points. Braunsberg put down a kill before Harris and Behiels slammed down a block for the set, 25-13.
Leading 7-6 in the third set, Deja Stanek started a 3-0 run that turned into spurts of 6-1, 10-2, and 14-3 to take a 21-9 advantage. The Golden Falcons scored five of the next six points to get to within 22-14, btut the Wildcats closed out the match with a kill by Jahnya Boschulte and a pair of Felician attack errors, 25-14.
Braunsberg picked up her third triple-double of the season, leading the Wildcats with 12 kills (with a .310 attack percentage), adding 11 assists and 18 digs. Harris, Behiels, and Bistany all chipped in with five kills each. Miranda Shaw spread the offense around with a team high 22 assists.
Addalyn Flores led the back row with an astounding 31 digs, averaging 10.3 digs per set in the victory. Following Braunsberg's 18, Brittany Ford added nine digs as well. Bistany denied two attacks with solo blocks and one block assist while Stanek finished with one solo block and one block assists. Harris collected four block assists while Ford and Behiels chipped in with two block assists each.
The Wildcats remain at home and in the CACC with their next match, as they host Georgian Court on Friday at the WU Athletics Complex. First service is set for 7:00 p.m.
