WATERBURY, Conn. - - Despite leading late in the first and third sets, the Wilmington University volleyball team fell to Post, 3-0, in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Tournament First Round matchup in the Drubner Center on Tuesday night.
Set scores for the match were 25-23, 25-11, and 27-15.
The Wildcats were the fourth seed in the CACC South Division, ending their season with a 19-14 overall record. The North Division's top seed, the Eagles (17-14) move onto the CACC Tournament Semifinal on Saturday at Georgian Court. They will also play Georgian Court in the next round.
The Eagles jumped out to an early lead in the fist set, taking an 8-5 lead. But Mandy Behiels started a 4-0 run with a kill, getting an ace from Jenna Brown and another Behiels kill to take a 9-8 lead. The lead went back and forth as Post tied the set with a kill, 16-16. Angel Oliver put down another kill to start a 5-0 run, including two points out of a Post timeout. Behiels put the Wildcats up, 21-16, with a kill. Rebecca Rawlinson put down another termination to give the Wildcats a 23-20 advantage, but the offense would stall from there. Post picked up three straight kills before an ace gave the Eagles set points, 24-23. An attack error gave the set to the Eagles, 25-23.
The Eagles carried that momentum into the second set, scoring the first five points en route to an 11-1 start. The lead ballooned out to 12 at 17-5, and to 13 points as the Eagles led 20-7. The Wildcats could only trade points with the Eagles, getting to as close as 21-10 and 22-11 before the Eagles closed out the game, 25-11.
The Wildcats looked to erase the 2-0 deficit and get into the contest with a strong start in the third, scoring six of the first nine points to lead, 6-3. After Post tied the set, 6-6, the Wildcats rattled off six straight points, getting a kill from Angel Oliver, an ace from Brittany Ford, a kill from Mandy Behiels, and a block from Oliver and Bailey Andrews to lead 12-6. The Eagles answered back with five straight points of their own and the teams went back and forth until late into the game.
With the game tied, 22-22, Bailey Andres put down a kill before Mandy Behiels added a kill for set points, 24-22. But the Eagles held off two set points and earned a set piece of their own, 25-24. A service error tied the set, 25-25, but the Eagles picked up back-to-back kills to take the set, 27-25, and the match, 3-0.
Freshman Angel Oliver put down eight kills with only one error on 11 swings, adding up to a .636 attack percentage for the match. Mandy Behiels put down eight kills as well while Rebecca Rawlinson added six kills. Jill Braunsberg dished out 19 assists while senior Jenna Brown led the team with 23 digs.
Senior Miranda Shaw added seven assists, six digs, and three kills while fellow senior Brittany Ford chipped in with three kills, three aces, and 11 digs.
The Eagles finished with nine service aces while out-blocking the Wildcats, 5-2.