PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - - After taking the first two sets, the Wilmington University volleyball team fell to Holy Family, 3-2, in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference action on Wednesday night inside the Campus Center Gym.
Set scores for the night were 25-20, 25-21, 18-25, 23-25, and 9-15.
The Wildcats (9-13, 5-5 CACC) saw their three-match winning streak come to an end after winning the first two sets on Wednesday. They were on the opposite side of the match on Saturday, falling behind Bloomfield, 2-0, before battling back to take the match, 3-2.
Trailing 2-1 in the fourth set, the Wildcats came back to tie the match, 16-16. The Tigers (12-8, 7-3 CACC), scored the next three points to take a 19-16 lead before the Wildcats fought back to within 21-20. But the Brittany Ford kill was resulted in a Wildcat service error leading to the Tigers taking a set point at 24-20. Three straight Wildcat points brought the Wildcats to within 24-23, but after a timeout the Tigers were able to collect a kill for the 25-23 set four victory and tie the match, 2-2.
The Wildcats got out to a 3-1 start in the fifth and deciding set, but the Tigers responded with seven straight points of their own to grab an 8-3 lead. A Jill Braunsberg kill and a bad set on the Tigers brought the Wildcats to within 8-6, but the Tigers answered with the next two points to retain a 10-6 lead.
The Wildcats were only able to grab single points the rest of the way, never gaining momentum in the final points of the match. The Tigers closed out the set, and the comeback victory in scoring five of the final seven points and seven of the final 10 points for the 15-9 fifth set victory.
Mandy Behiels and Brittany Ford led the offense with 11 kills each while Miranda Shaw paced the team with 18 assists. Libero Addalyn Flores led the back row with 25 digs while Braunsberg (13), Shaw (11), and Behiels (10) collected double digits digs as well.
Eile Harris and Rebecca Rawlinson led the defense at the net with three solo blocks each, as Harris added four block solos for a match total of five blocks.
The Wildcats hits .103 for the match while the Tigers went .188 at the net for the match.
The loss drops the Wildcats to a game behind both Goldey-Beacom and Georgian Court for fourth place in the CACC South Division. The Wildcats next host Dominican on Saturday at the WU Athletics Complex with a 12:00 p.m. first service scheduled.