NEWARK, Del. - - The New Haven Chargers powered their way past the Wilmington University volleyball team on Thursday night, sweeping the Wildcats, 3-0, in nonconference play at the WU Athletics Complex.
Set scores for the match were 25-8, 25-20, and 25-19.
The Chargers (8-7) spread the wealth around on Thursday night, having five players with seven or more kills and hitting .321 as a team.
New Haven used a 9-1 run to take a 6-4 game to a 15-5 game in the first set. Another 8-0 run pushed the Chargers' lead out to 23-6 and then they finished it off to win the opening game, 25-8.
The Wildcats (7-8) used a 6-2 run to climb back into the second set, tying the game, 10-10. The Wildcats scored back-to-back points on three occasions during a 7-3 run, as a block from Ally Jonika and Kaiya Medina pushed the Wildcats in front, 18-16. But out of a New Haven timeout, the Chargers went on a 5-0 run to take a 21-18 lead. The Wildcats got within two points on two occasions, but the Chargers scored the final three points of the set to win, 25-20.
Wilmington scored four in a row to take a 5-2 lead in the third and got a kill from Karla Nunez-Rivera for a 10-7 lead. The Chargers answered with a 7-2 spurt but then a kill from Eliza Schneider and a block from Schneider and Jonika put the Wildcats back in front, 15-14. The Chargers responded with a 4-0 run of their own, taking the lead for good in the set, 18-15. The Wildcats got to within 21-18 but then earned match point with a 3-0 run. They closed out the match with a kill, 25-19.
Eliza Schneider led the Wildcats with 10 kills while only committing two errors to hit .320 for the match. Karla Nunez-Rivera put down six kills while Karalyn Osborne added five kills, eight assists, and four digs. Cam Justus dished out 10 assists and seven digs while Gabby Barth led the back row with 16 digs. Ally Jonika finished with four blocks in the match.
The Wildcats return to Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference play for their next three matches, starting with a trip to Caldwell on Saturday. The first serve against the Cougars is set for 12:00 p.m.