Press Release Written by Nathan Foltz
NEWARK, Del. - - The Wilmington University volleyball team got off to a hot start while hosting the 2025 Wildcat Regional Invitational on Friday, defeating Franklin Pierce, 3-0, before getting cooled down later to cap the day in a 3-0 loss to Adelphi at the WU Athletics Complex.
Set scores against Franklin Pierce were 25-17, 25-14, and 25-23.
Set scores against Adelphi were 15-25, 10-25, and 14-25.
Match vs. Franklin Pierce:
The Wildcats started strong in their first match, going up 7-0 in the first set before the Ravens scored their first point. Wilmington went on a 10-4 run to bring the score to 17-6 before Franklin Pierce went on a 8-1 run of their own to tighten the contest, but the Wildcats shut them down from there to keep a hold on their lead.
The second set saw another dominating run by Wilmington, as they used a 13-2 run to start the match to propel them to a second set victory. The third set was more back and forth than the first two, with the Ravens scoring first to hold their first lead of the day. Wilmington took their first lead of the set thanks to an attack error by Franklin Pierce on their 12th point to make it 12-11, and they held the lead for good the rest of the match after their 13th point.
Karla Nunez-Rivera led the Wildcats in their first match with 13 kills and 5 digs, hitting .375 with one error. Chelsea Blaine-Agett had 8 kills, hitting .353 with 2 blocks. Eliza Schneider also had 8 kills and hit .300, while Morgan Daniels had 10 digs, Cam Justus had 16 assists, and Christine Covello had 15 assists.
Match vs. Adelphi:
The second match didn't go as well as the first, as Adelphi started the match with a 9-1 run to put the Wildcats in an early hole. Wilmington had two four-point scoring streaks later in the set, but the initial Panther surge was too much to overcome. Adelphi had another strong run to start the second set, going up 8-2 as part of an 18-5 start to the set, but it again was too much for Wilmington to fight back from.
Set three was back and forth in the first half, with the game tied 11-11 after 22 rallies. The Panthers pulled away from that point, however, finishing the game on a dominating 14-3 run.
Karla Nunez-Rivera had 5 kills and 6 digs in the match, as well as 3 block assists. Haley Holland had 8 digs, and Morgan Daniels had 9.
The Wildcats are back at it on Saturday to wrap up the Invitational, facing off against Daemen at 3:00 p.m. and Roberts Wesleyan at 7:00 p.m. at the WU Athletics Complex.
