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NEWARK, Del. - - The first win came on September 3, 2004 and today's 3-1 victory over crosstown rival Goldey-Beacom marks the 300th career victory for the Wilmington University volleyball program and head coach Kim Huggins-Habbert, coming on Homecoming Saturday at the WU Athletics Complex.
Set scores for the match were 25-22, 23-25, 25-16, and 25-17.
Huggins-Habbert has been at the helm of the program since they joined the NCAA ranks in 2004, with 300 wins spanning 18 years (17 years of games since 2020 was cancelled due to COVID-19). Assistant coach Ross Barlow has been there on the bench for all 300 as well.
Goldey-Beacom (5-9, 1-3 CACC) fought back to tie the first set, 20-20, but then the Wildcats (6-7, 2-1 CACC) got three straight kills from Angel Oliver to force the Lightning into a timeout, 23-20. Goldey got two of the points back, but then an error and another Oliver kill gave the Wildcats the first set, 25-22.
An 11-0 run gave the Lightning a 12-3 lead in the second set, but the Wildcats fought all the way back to tie the game at 15. Another 6-2 run by the Wildcats gave the home team a 21-18 lead, but the Lightning answered with a 5-1 run of their own to take a 23-22 lead. An error tied the game, 23-23, but the Lightning gathered the final two points of the set to tie the match, 25-23.
The third set started with the Wildcats jumping out to a 10-1 lead. The Lightning clawed back to within 19-15, but the Wildcats used a 3-0 run capped by a block from Dorie Moore and Heather Pedrickto take a 22-15 lead. After Goldey scored a point, a Mandy Behiels kill, an ace, and another block by Moore and Pedrick ended the set, 25-16.
The Wildcats again jumped out to a large lead in the fourth set, as a kill from Kaiya Medina gave the home team a 12-4 lead. Genevieve Hughes sparked a 4-0 run with an ace, taking a 20-9 lead as Goldey-Beacom called a timeout. The Wildcats were then able to side-out three more times with Sydney Barrett putting down match point from J'ernai Argilagos, 25-17.
Angel Oliver led the Wildcats with 13 kills while hitting .429, committing only one error o 28 swings. She also led the team with five block assists, adding one solo block as well. Mandy Behiels finished with 10 kills and added a team high 23 digs. Heather Pedrick dished out 25 assists.
The Wildcats had 13 aces today, led by Heather Pedrick's six while Grace Morton added two aces. They also collected 11 total blocks on the afternoon.
The Wildcats are on the road all next week, starting with a CACC South Division matchup at Georgian Court on Tuesday. The first serve is set for 7:00 p.m.
