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NEWARK, Del. - - In a battle with the top team from the North Division, the Wilmington University volleyball team came out on top over Bloomfield, 3-2, in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference contest at the WU Athletics Complex on Saturday afternoon.
Set scores for the match were 225-20, 17-25, 25-19, 25-27, and 15-13.
The win is the seventh straight for the Wildcats, tying the third-longest win streak in the program's NCAA era. The seven-match win streak ties runs by the 2013 and 2015 teams. The 2004 team held a 14-match win streak which was only bested by a 15-match win streak in 2012.
The back-and-forth match started with the Wildcats winning the opening set, 25-20. The Wildcats broke away from the Bears (9-5, 8-1 CACC) with a 5-0 run to take a 19-10 lead. The Bears scored three straight to close the gap to 23-19, forcing the Wildcats into a timeout. The Bears scored out of the break, 23-20, but then Kacey Affrunti and Brice Hansen put down back-to-back kills to send the set, 25-20.
The Bears used a 5-0 run to take a 13-8 lead in the second set, and led by as many as eight points, 20-12. A block by Kacey Affrunti and Brice Hansen brought the Wildcats to within 21-16, but the Bears scored four of the next five points to tie the match, 25-17.
Tied 9-9 in the third set, the Wildcats went on a 9-6 run to take an 18-15 lead, getting a block by Dorie Moore to cap the run. Katie Bushong picked up an ace to make it a 21-17 lead, forcing Bloomfield into a timeout. The teams traded the next four points before Kacey Affrunti and Heather Pedrick had back-to-back kills to end the set, 25-19.
The Wildcats were down by as many as five points as late as 19-14 before coming back to gain match points in the fourth set. Trailing 22-19, the Wildcats got a kill from Kacey Affrunti, a Bears' error, and a kill from Heather Pedrick to force Bloomfield into a timeout. Back-to-back blocks by the Wildcats and another kill from Kacey Affrunti gave the Wildcats match point, 24-22, and force Bloomfield into their final timeout. A kill, a block, and another kill gave the Bears set point, 25-24, before Affrunti tied the set, 25-25, with a kill. But the Wildcats had a service error and a hitting error, giving the set to the Bears, 27-25, and tying the match, 2-2.
The Wildcats raced out to a 4-1 lead in the fifth, but the Bears fought back to take the lead, 5-4 and 6-5. Brice Hansen had back-to-back kills and Heather Pedrick put one down as the Wildcat led, 8-6, as the teams switched sides. Kills from Dorie Moore, Pedrick and Affrunti put the Wildcats up, 12-8. The Bears continued to fight and closed the gap to 13-12, but Kacey Affrunti put down a kill to gain two more match points, 14-12. The Bears held off one match point, but then Affrunti ended the match with another termination, 15-13.
Heather Pedrick collected 19 kills and 28 digs while Kacey Affrunti had 18 kills and eight blocks. Brice Hansen finished with 13 kills and 14 digs, adding four blocks. Katie Bushong dished out 51 assists while Elly Collins chipped in with 19 digs. Dorie Moore had three solo and three block assists in the middle as well.
The Wildcats will go for their eighth straight win on Thursday night when they travel to Georgian Court for the second meeting of the season with the Lions. The match is set for 6:00 p.m. in Lakewood, New Jersey.