Volleyball Falls in Five-Set Thriller at Towson

Sunday, October 31

Towson, Md.

1 PM

University of Delaware

11-12,6-8CAA

Towson

21-3,9-3CAA

Delaware

Towson

Photo by: Mark Campbell

10/31/2021 4:59:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

TOWSON, Md. – After putting together an impressive comeback to even the match at two sets apiece, the University of Delaware volleyball team fell short and dropped a five-set (12-25, 17-25, 28-26, 25-20, 4-15) road thriller Sunday afternoon to the CAA defending champions Towson (21-3, 9-3 CAA) inside SECU Arena in Towson, Md.

Delaware's (11-12, 6-8 CAA) best attacking percentage came in sets three (.311) and four (.300) while Towson finished the afternoon swinging at a rate of .296. The Tigers led the way in points (85-65.5), kills (67-48), aces (8-7), assists (62-44) and digs (79-62). Both teams had 10 blocks each.

Towson opened the match with a 5-1 run. Delaware got in as close as two, 5-3, before the Tigers erupted with a 13-4 run to extend the lead to 10, 18-7. The Blue Hens reached double-digits after a service error by Rachel Hess, 22-10. The Tigers then scored three of the final five points to win the opening set, 25-12.

After Towson took an eight-point lead in set two, 18-10, Delaware scored four-straight points, with Lily Rogers serving three, to pull within four, 18-14. The Tigers remained in control and used a 7-3 scoring spurt to capture the 25-17 set two win.

The Blue Hens turned things around in the third set starting with a 7-3 run capped by Lauryn Richardson's kill. Towson went on to score four unanswered points to tie the game at seven. The Tigers took a brief 11-9 lead before the battle for the advantage commenced. After the set saw six ties (16-16), Kirah Johnson's kill ignited a 6-1 run to give the Blue Hens the 22-17 lead. Towson had match-point twice after Emily Jarome's kill, 24-23, and then again with her ace, 26-25. The Blue Hens remained composed and put away the much-needed three points, courtesy of back-to-back kills by Johnson and Savannah Seemans and Ezgi Basaranlar's ace to pull away with the 28-26 set three victory.

Delaware still had the hot hand as Rogers served all of the Blue Hens five points to open the fourth set. Towson trimmed the deficit to three, 12-9, but the Blue & Gold stayed the course as a Rogers' kill kick started a dominant 7-2 run, 19-11. Trailing by eight (22-14), the Tigers were determined to close the gap with a 6-2 run, 24-20, until Richardson nailed down set point for the Blue Hens, 25-20.

Rogers opened the deciding set scoring for Delaware, 1-0. Nikiya Mitchell's kill gave Towson the lead for good, 3-2, as the team then went on a 7-1 run, 9-3. Richardson buried Rogers' feed for the Blue Hens' final point of the afternoon before the Tigers closed the game on a 6-0 run to complete the weekend sweep.

For the second-straight match, Richardson led the Blue Hens by tying her season-high 14 kills. Rogers followed with 19 assists, 10 digs and nine kills to post her third first double-double of the season. Basaranlar (two aces) dished out 16 assists along with eight digs while Katie Turner and Seemans scooped up 19 and 11 digs, respectively. Lani Mason and Grace Underwood added seven block assists each.

Jarome finished with match-high 16 kills to go with 15 digs to lead Towson to victory. Irbe Lazda chipped in with 11 kills and five block assists. Fay Bakodimou, Lydia Wiers and Mitchell each had 10 kills. Kristin Spengler directed the Tigers' offense with a match-high 32 assists along with 13 digs while Hess anchored the defense with a match-high 22 digs. Megan Wilson had 21 assists.

WHAT'S NEXT
The Blue Hens will close out its non-conference slate on Thursday, Nov. 4, by hosting UMBC (15-10) in a Most Valuable Professor (MVP) Night battle inside Bob Carpenter Center starting at 6 p.m.

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