NEWARK, Del. - - The Wilmington University volleyball team captured its seventh consecutive victory on Thursday night, stepping outside of conference play to defeat Millersville, 3-1, inside the WU Athletics Complex.
Set scores for the match were 17-25, 25-16, 25-19, and 25-15.
After dropping the first set to the Marauders (4-12), the Wildcats (10-7) hit over .300 in each of the following three sets to come back and win at home. The Wildcats had 12 aces in the match, their third most in a match this season.
Millersville turned a 10-5 lead into a 17-6 lead in the first set with a 7-1 run. The Wildcats tried to battle back, using a 7-1 run of their own to get within 18-13. The teams traded back-to-back points, with a Cam Justus ace getting the Wildcats to within 20-15. The Marauders then scored three straight to lead 23-15 before the teams traded points with Millersville ending the set, 25-17, with a kill.
The Wildcats came out on fire in the second set, scoring the first four points and racing out to an 11-4 lead with back-to-back kills from Eliza Schneider. Another 7-1 run put the Wildcats in front 19-7. The Marauders closed the gap to 21-12 but then another Schneider kill gave the Wildcats set point, 24-13. Millersville saved three set points before Mia Schultz put down a kill to tie the match, 1-1.
The third set was tied at 15-15 before the Wildcats used a 4-1 run to take the lead for good. Another 3-0 run, capped by a Haley Holland ace make it 22-17 and then Addison Hoover gave the Wildcats set point with a kill, 24-18. Karla Nunez-Rivera then ended the game, 25-19, with a kill.
The Wildcats raced out to a 7-3 lead in game four and then used a 3-0 spurt to take an 11-6 lead. Back-to-back aces from Haley Holland put the Wildcats up 15-8, but the Marauders clawed back into the game with a 4-0 run to get within 16-13. Karla Nunez-Rivera gave the Wildcats an 18-13 lead with a kill and then a 20-14 lead with an ace. The Wildcats then closed out the match by scoring the final five points, the final from Cam Justus on a two-ball, 25-15.
Karla Nunez-Rivera put down 15 kills while adding nine digs and two aces. Eliza Schneider had 13 kills and two blocks while Addison Hoover had a double-double with 11 kills and 17 digs. In her first action this season, Mia Schultz had four kills and two blocks in the middle. Morgan Daniels had a team high 19 digs while Christine Covello had 24 assists. Haley Holland led with three aces in the win.
The Wildcats return to Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference action with their next contest, traveling to Felician on Saturday. The first serve against the Golden Falcons is set for 12:00 p.m. in Rutherford, New Jersey.