Press release written by sports information graduate intern Mary Kate Rumbaugh
NEWARK, Del. - - Looking for a sweep in the 2019 season, the Wilmington University volleyball team aims to take down Felician in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Quarterfinals on Tuesday night.
The Wildcats secured the fourth seed in this year's CACC South Division, going 12-7 in conference play and 20-13 overall. They will take on the 2019 CACC North Division regular season champions of Felician, who went 13-6 in the CACC for a 15-17 overall record.
Felician came to the WU Athletics Complex during the regular season, where the Wildcats swept the Golden Falcons, 3-0, on November 2. Both teams have only met once throughout the CACC Tournament, when the Wildcats defeated Felician, 3-0 back in 2013.
Tickets/Admission for CACC Volleyball Tournament:
Adults: $8.00 (CASH ONLY)
Students, Children and Senior Citizens: $4.00 (CASH ONLY)
Children under the age of three: Free
Links to Follow the CACC Volleyball Tournament First Round:
Live Stats at Felician: http://athletics.wilmu.edu/sports/wvball/2019-20/boxscores/20191119_hbmj.xml
Live Video: https://caccnetwork.com/felician/?bfplayvid=154528
CACC Tournament Bracket: https://www.caccathletics.org/sports/wvball/2019-20/releases/1116Bracket
Scouting the South's No. 4 Wilmington University Wildcats:
Wilmington was on a four-match win streak to end the month of October and to begin November, but fell in the next two matches to Post and Holy Family. The Wildcats ended their regular season on the road at Caldwell, where they notched their 20th win of the season, with a 3-2 victory over the Cougars.
The Wildcats' offense is led by Mandy Behiels, as she is fourth overall in the CACC with 360 kills, while sitting 11th in the league with 2.93 kills per set. She is also second in the CACC with 438 points on the season, averaging 3.6 points per set. Bailey Andrews is eighth in the league with 311 kills and ninth, averaging 3.05 kills per set. Rebecca Rawlinson ranks third throughout the regular season, hitting .298. Sophomore Sarah Couch has dished out a new single season program record 1,228 assists so far this season, averaging 9.98 per set.
Rawlinson leads the CACC with 125 blocks on the year, which is 24 more than Georgian Court's Amy Bruno who has 101 on the year. The senior middle blocker is second in the conference with 1.03 blocks per set. Angel Oliver is eighth in the CACC, averaging .79 blocks per set. As a team, the Wildcats lead the conference with 257 total blocks, averaging 2.09 per set. Their 257 total blocks is 41 more than Georgian Court, who is second in the CACC with 216.
In the back row, freshman Elly Collins is leading the CACC with 624 digs throughout the season. She is averaging 5.07 digs per set, ranking her fourth in the league. Mandy Behiels is second on the team with 330 digs on the season, as she is averaging 2.68 per set. WilmU is second as a team in the CACC with a total of 1,990 digs on the year, averaging 16.18 digs per set.
Scouting the North's No. 1 Felician University Golden Falcons:
Felician has gone 2-4 throughout the month of November, but defeated Jefferson in their final regular season contest, 3-1. To begin the month of October though, the Golden Falcons went on an eight-game win streak, which was broken up by a loss to Holy Family, on October 26.
The offense is led by Raamiah Edwards who has a total of 301 kills on the season, averaging 2.55 kills per set. Katie Asbury is tied with Rebecca Rawlinson in the CACC, as she is hitting .298 on the year.
On defense, the Golden Falcons are led by Sierra Gallagher, who is second in the CACC with 602 digs this season, but ranks first with 5.73 digs per set. As a team, Felician is first overall in the CACC with 2,011 digs this season, averaging 16.90 per set.
Felician's 15 victories and 13 conference wins are both school records. Prior to this year's North Division Regular Season title, the Golden Falcons had never finished better than fourth in the division. The 2016 Felician squad went 0-30 on the year, marking an tremendous turnaround in just three seasons.
Wilmington in the CACC Tournament:
2004 (2-0): #1 Wilmington def. #5 NJIT, 3-0; #1 Wilmington def. #2 Teikyo Post, 3-1
2005 (1-1): #4 Wilmington def. #5 Bloomfield, 3-2; #1 Goldey-Beacom def. #4 Wilmington, 3-0
2006 (0-1): #4 Goldey-Beacom def. #5 Wilmington, 3-2
2007: DNP
2008 (0-1): S#1 Georgian Court def. S#4 Wilmington, 3-0
2009: DNP
2010 (0-1): S#2 Philadelphia def. S#3 Wilmington, 3-0
2011 (1-1): S#3 def. N#2 Dominican, 3-1; S#1 Holy Family def. S#3 Wilmington, 3-1
2012 (2-1): S#1 Wilmington def. N#4 Post, 3-0; S#1 Wilmington def. S#3 Georgian Court, 3-2; N#1 Dominican def. S#1 Wilmington, 3-0
2013 (1-1): S#1 Wilmington def. N#4 Felician, 3-0; S#3 Georgian Court def. S#1 Wilmington, 3-0
2014 (1-1): S#2 Wilmington def. N#3 Dominican, 3-0; N#1 Caldwell def. S#2 Wilmington, 3-1
2015 (1-1): S#2 Wilmington def. N#3 Caldwell, 3-2; N#1 Post def. S#2 Wilmington, 3-2
2016: DNP
2017: DNP
2018 (0-1): N#1 Post def. S#4 Wilmington, 3-0
Overall: 9-10
Season and All-Time Records vs. CACC Tournament Semifinal Participants:
North Division:
#1 Felician University Golden Falcons: 2019 – vs. W 3-0; All-Time – 18-1; CACC Tournament – 1-0
#2 Caldwell University Cougars: 2019 – @ W 3-2; All-Time – 9-8; CACC Tournament – 1-1
#3 Bloomfield College Bears: 2019 – vs. L 3-2; All-Time – 13-6; CACC Tournament – 1-0
#4 Concordia College Clippers: 2019 – @ W 3-0; All-Time – 13-1; CACC Tournament – 0-0
South Division:
#1 Georgian Court University Lions: 2019 – vs. W 3-2, @ L 3-0; All-Time – 15-22; CACC Tournament – 1-2
#2 Holy Family University Tigers: 2019 – @ W 3-0, vs. L 3-0; All-Time – 16-17; CACC Tournament – 0-1
#3 Jefferson Rams: 2019 – @ L 3-0; vs. L 3-1; All-Time – 7-22; CACC Tournament – 0-1
#4 Wilmington University Wildcats
2019 CACC VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
Quarterfinals (Tuesday, Nov. 19, at Highest Seeds)
N#4 Concordia at S#1 Georgian Court (6 p.m.)
S#3 Jefferson at N#2 Caldwell (6 p.m.)
S#4 Wilmington at N#1 Felician (6 p.m.)
N#3 Bloomfield at S#2 Holy Family (6 p.m.)
Semifinals (Saturday, Nov. 23, at Holy Family University)
GCU/Concordia Winner vs. Caldwell/Jefferson Winner (1 or 3:30 p.m.)
Felician/WilmU Winner vs. HFU/Bloomfield Winner (1 or 3:30 p.m.)
**Highest remaining seed will play in the day's first match
Championship Final (Sunday, Nov. 24, at Holy Family University)
Match 1 Winner vs. Match 2 Winner (12 p.m.)