Blue Hens Open Season With Impressive Three-Set Victory Over Morgan State

Friday, August 24

Bob Carpenter Center

7:00 PM

University of Delaware

1-0

Morgan State University

0-2

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Morgan State	10	22	17	0
Delaware	25	25	25	3

Photo by: Mark Campbell

Blue Hens Open Season With Impressive Three-Set Victory Over Morgan State

8/24/2018 9:18:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

NEWARK, Del. – The University of Delaware volleyball team jumped out to a big lead in the opening set and never looked back as the Blue Hens posted an impressive 3-0 (25-10, 25-22, 25-17) victory over Morgan State Friday night at the Bob Carpenter Center.

Cailey Bracken and Brooke Robertson each slammed 12 kills to pace Delaware, while Maria Bellinger added 10 on the night. Julia Hayes contributed eight kills and no errors for a .615 attack percentage, while Courtnie Roberts handed out 41 assists. Delaware recorded a .304 team attack percentage on the night while holding the Bears to a .137 percentage.

Andie Hanus posted a match-high 17 digs for the Blue Hens, while Bracken added 14 and Roberts had 11 as both players finished with double-doubles.

Delaware exploded for 11 straight points early in the opening stanza to take a commanding 15-2 advantage, and led comfortably the rest of the set to take the early lead. Morgan State led by as many as four points in the second set, but Delaware rallied back to take a three-point cushion at 20-17 before eventually putting the set away on a Bellinger ace.

The third set was also competitive early on and featured seven ties, but after the teams were knotted at 8-8, the Blue Hens reeled off three straight points and led the rest of the way. Delaware led by as many as eight points, before a kill by Bracken sealed the victory.

Hen Scratchings
• Bellinger eclipsed the 700 kills mark for her career
• Roberts recorded the fifth double-double of her career
• Delaware improved to 8-0 all-time vs. Morgan State

Head Coach Sara Matthews
"I thought our effort was great; we've been talking a lot about first ball contact and I thought our serves were really good. Our defense was great - we had 54 digs in three sets so that kind of started it off. Our energy was really good, and it was just an overall good effort. I thought the distribution was great by Courtnie (Roberts), and we've talked a lot about getting our middles more involved this season. We have really been working on spreading the ball out, and a lot of that has to deal with our first ball contact being better which gives us some more options off of that."

Up Next
The Blue Hens continue action at the Delaware Classic on Saturday with a 4 p.m. match against La Salle. Villanova will take on La Salle at 12 noon in the first match of the day, while Morgan State and Villanova will conclude the day's action at 7 p.m.