Volleyball Sweeps Northeastern

Saturday, October 16

Boston, Mass.

1 PM

University of Delaware

9-9,4-5CAA

Northeastern

8-9,4-3CAA

Delaware

Northeastern

Photo by: Mark Campbell

10/16/2021 3:58:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

BOSTON, Mass. – Back-to-back wins in straight sets for the Blue Hens! The University of Delaware volleyball team extended its winning streak to four matches as the team picked up a 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-22) victory on the road Saturday afternoon over Northeastern (8-9, 4-3 CAA) inside Cabot Center. With the win, the Blue Hens now have a .500 winning percentage on the season with a 9-9 record and are 4-5 in conference action.

"This was a really good road win for us," said head coach Sara Matthews. "We weren't as good at the service line as we've been the past few matches so we need to get after that tomorrow. We are looking forward to watching film and getting back to work tomorrow."

It was a closely contested afternoon between the two with the Blue Hens putting together timely rallies to hold the edge over the Huskies. Delaware outhit the home squad .323 to .226 and held the advantage in points (60.5-45), kills (47-31), aces (6-5), assists (43-28), digs (33-32). Northeastern won the blocks battle, 9-7.

The opening set was a seesaw battle in which Northeastern's largest lead was four points, 11-7. The Blue Hens still trailed 20-18 but answered with a dominating 7-0 run with Ezgi Basaranlar serving six straight points to capture the 25-20 set one victory.

The Huskies responded in the second set with a 5-1 run capped by Nailah Jenkins' kill. Later Northeastern took a two-point lead at 16-14, before Delaware scored five unanswered points, headlined by Lani Mason's three of her match-high 15 kills, to take the three-point lead. The Huskies were able to get in as close as one at 24-23, but the Blue & Gold remained composed and capitalized on a service error by Amanda Guasti-Nugent to win set two.

Northeastern opened the final set with an early 2-0 lead, before Lauryn Richardson and Grace Underwood teamed up for a block assist to put Delaware in the driver's seat for good, 4-3. Kirah Johnson nailed down Basaranlar's feed to ignite a 5-1 Blue Hen run and extend the lead to four at 11-7. The Huskies battled to keep the game close and were able to trim the deficit to one at 22-21, before Savannah Seemans and Underwood scored Delaware's final three points to complete the sweep, 25-22.

Mason has led the way for the Blue Hens in kills over the last three matches, and she added seven digs and two block assists to her stat line on the afternoon. Richardson and Seemans (eight digs) both followed with nine kills. Basaranlar directed the Blue & Gold offense with a match-best 33 assists to go with seven digs, four kills, three block assists and two aces. Katie Turner scooped up eight digs and dished out five assists.

Erica Staunton finished with 13 kills and four block assists to pace Northeastern. Jenkins chipped in seven kills, three digs and two block assists. Jessica Frannea had 21 assists and three digs.

WHAT'S NEXT
The Blue Hens are set to face Northeastern again tomorrow in a CAA showdown from Cabot Center in Boston, Mass. at 1p.m.

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