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NEWARK, Del. - - The Wilmington University volleyball team snapped its two-match losing streak in a convincing way on Wednesday night, sweeping West Chester in a nonconference contest at the WU Athletics Complex.
Set scores for the match were 25-20, 25-22, and 25-21.
During the third set, senior libero Elly Collins broke the Wildcats' program record for career digs, notching her 1,988th pick-up in her illustrious career. She surpassed Shelby Henderson's record set during her career from 2012-15. Collins ended tonight with 1,996 career digs and is looking to become the program's first student-athlete to amass 2,000 career digs in the NCAA era.
After dropping matches on the road last week to Chestnut Hill and Georgian Court, the Wildcats came out with a purpose on Wednesday, and it ended with the team's best hitting percentage of the season. the Wildcats collected 40 kills on 120 attempts while committing only 11 errors to hit .242 for the match. That bested the team's .232 attack percentage in their 3-1 win against Kutztown on September 8.
Trailing 15-11 in the opening set, a kill by Karalyn Osborne sparked an 11-1 run as the Wildcats took a 22-16 lead. Kills from Shannen Litten and Katie Bushong gave the Wildcats set point, but the Golden Rams saved three of them to get to within 24-20. Brice Hansen ended the set with a kill, 25-20.
The Wildcats then jumped out to a 9-1 lead in the second set, ending it with a block from Carleigh Santavy and Shannen Litten, and then a kill from Cailyn Smiley. The Golden Rams battled all the way back though, tying the game at 11-11 before taking leads of 14-12 and held a lead as late as 21-20. Trailing 20-18, the Wildcats scored the next two points to tie the set in the midst of a 4-1 run to take a 22-21 lead. West Chester tied the game with a kill, 22-22, but then a dig and a kill from Elly Collins, a block by Dorie Moore and Brice Hansen, and a kill by Hansen gave the Wildcats a 2-0 lead, 25-22.
The Wildcats led 15-12 in the third set before the Golden Rams used a 4-0 run to take a 16-15 lead. With the Rams leading 19-18, the Wildcats went on a 3-0 spurt to take the lead for good. After West Chester closed to within 22-21, the Wildcats got kills from Litten, Bushong, and Hansen to close out the set, 25-21, and the match, 3-0.
Brice Hansen led the Wildcats with 11 kills while hitting .276, adding 12 digs for the double-double. Cailyn Smiley had eight kills while Katie Bushong had six kills without an error on nine swings. Bushong also added 24 assists and 13 digs. Elly Collins finished with 25 digs in the match while Shannen Litten led the charge at the net with five blocks.
The Wildcats are back in action on Saturday when they kickstart the 2023 Homecoming Gameday Festivities at the WU Athletics Complex. The Wildcats start the tripleheader with a CACC match against Post at 11:00 a.m.
