Blue Hens Dominant in Four-Set Victory Over JMU

Friday, October 4

Harrisonburg, Va.

7 p.m.

University of Delaware

11-4, 3-1CAA

James Madison University

8-6, 2-2CAA

DELAWARE

James Madison

10/4/2019 9:31:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Bellinger and Basaranlar tally double-doubles in Delaware’s first win at JMU since 2011

HARRISONBURG, Va. – The Delaware volleyball seniors began their final tour around the CAA Friday night and Maria Bellinger made the most of it with a double-double to help the Blue Hens dominate JMU (25-17, 18-25, 25-17, 25-11) in four sets at Sinclair Gymnasium.

It was Delaware's first victory in Harrisonburg since Nov. 11, 2011 and the team's best start in conference play since the 2010 season when they went 13-1 in the CAA in route to a conference championship.

"This was a great team win for us," said head coach Sara Matthews. "Anytime you can grab a win on the road against a very good team, it's huge. We were really disciplined at the net and executed our game plan."

The Blue Hens set the tone early, forcing JMU into both of its timeouts when Bellinger put away one of her 20 kills on the night to make it 15-11.

The Paramus, New Jersey native tallied her 24^th career double-double, adding 10 digs while hitting .326 on the night.

The Delaware run continued with a redshirt junior Julia Hayes kill before the Dukes finally got on the board. It was a quick response from a 6-0 Blue Hens run with freshman Ezgi Basaranlar at the service line to help propel UD to an early match lead.

Basaranlar would go on to put together a double-double of her own with 42 assists and 10 digs.

JMU showed life with a win in the second set, but Delaware bounced right back with big wins in the third and fourth sets.

Freshman Lauryn Richardson came off the bench in the third to give a spark to the Blue Hens attack with six kills and a block in the final two frames.

"Lauryn was fantastic off the bench and both or outsides were really solid," Matthews said.

Freshman Lani Mason was one of those outsides with 14 kills, hitting .387 with eight digs and a service ace to open the match.

Hayes put together a seven-kill night with a pair of blocks while senior Andie Hanus racked up 12 digs in the win.

"I'm excited for the team to take the weekend off and get some rest before we get ready for two big matches next week," Matthews added.

For the latest on the Delaware volleyball program, follow the Blue Hens on Twitter @DelawareVB and Instagram @delawarevolleyball, and like on Facebook at Delaware Volleyball.