Press Release Written by Nathan Foltz
RUTHERFORD, N.J. - - Felician University handed the Wilmington University women's volleyball team its first conference loss of the season on Saturday, winning 3-1 in Rutherford, NJ, in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference cross-division matchup.
Set scores for the match were 23-25, 19-25, 25-19, and 20-25.
Wilmington is now 10-8 overall on the season with a 6-1 record in CACC play, while the Golden Falcons improve to 6-11 and 3-2 in the conference. The Wildcats had its seven-match winning streak snapped on Saturday.
The first set was tight, as neither team could get more than a two-point separation until Wilmington went up by three at 17-14. The Wildcats proceeded to grow that lead to five with a kill by Karla Nunez-Rivera and a Felician attack error, but couldn't put the Golden Falcons away from there and allowed them to score 11 of the next 15 points. Wilmington had a chance with a 23-21 lead, but Felician held strong and forced two attack errors with two kills to end it.
Set two started with a similar back-and-forth series of rallies, but Felician rattled off six straight points to take the lead for good after Wilmington had tied it at nine. The Wildcats tried fighting back, but never got to within more than four points the rest of the way.
Down 5-7 in the third set with their backs to the wall, the Wildcats finally got off a run of their own, going 11-4 over the next 15 rallies. Felician then picked up two kills to make the score 16-13, but the Wildcats handled business from there, as Eliza Schneider and Gianna King each picked up two kills over the final nine scores.
The fourth set had a promising start for Wilmington, with the Wildcats leading through their tenth point. Felician was only three behind, though, and they pounced to score nine straight. Wilmington made things interesting, taking a 9-4 run to a one-point deficit at 19-20 and again at 20-21, but the Golden Falcons wrapped things up with three straight kills and a service ace to put the Wildcats away for good.
Eliza Schneider led the Cats with 13 kills on the day and hit .281. Addison Hoover was right behind her with 11 kills and added a team-high 10 digs. Christine Covello had 18 assists and Cam Justus had 12, while Justus and Haley Holland both had two aces.
The Wildcats will look to get back on track on Wednesday with another conference match at home against cross-town rival Goldey-Beacom. First serve is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at the WU Athletics Complex.