Volleyball Tops UNCW in Four Sets

Saturday, October 9

Wilmington, N.C.

4 PM

University of Delaware

7-9,2-5CAA

UNCW

2-14,1-4CAA

Delaware

UNCW

10/9/2021 6:53:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

WILMINGTON, N.C. – Building on last weekend's momentum, the University of Delaware volleyball team captured a 3-1 (25-11, 17-25, 25-17, 25-22) Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) road victory over UNCW (2-14,1-4 CAA). With the win, the Blue Hens move to 7-9 on the season and 2-5 in league play.

"This was a really good road win for us," said head coach Sara Matthews. "We had moments where we played really clean, especially in sets one and three. We can continue to improve defensively. We need to stay focus on that front for longer periods of time. We had flashes of that elongated focus tonight. I'm proud of our team for finishing at the end of the match and securing this win."

Delaware was in the driver's seat the entire match as the team hit .216 compared to UNCW's .124. The Blue Hens held the advantage in points (66-49), kills (46-40), aces (13-3), blocks (7-6), assists (39-35) and digs (60-55).

The Blue Hens opened the match with a 6-0 run with Ezgi Basaranlar serving five of the points. UNCW trimmed the deficit to three, 7-4, before Delaware erupted with a 9-0 run highlighted by Grace Underwood serving three straight aces as part of the spurt. Lauryn Richardson then closed out the Blue Hens' 3-0 run as they claimed the 25-11 set one victory. As part of their match-high 0.45 attacking percentage, the Blue & Gold were able to hold the Seahawks to its lowest set points (previous mark was 12).

Set two proved to be a seesaw battle for the advantage as neither team held more than a two-point lead. The Blue Hens lead briefly, 14-12, before UNCW responded by igniting a 7-2 run to take the 19-15 lead. Lani Mason scored Delaware's final two points as part of the 6-2 Seahawk run to claim set two with a 25-17 win.

The Blue Hens pulled it together heading into set three. After the set was tied 3-3 early on, Delaware unleashed a dominating 9-0 run behind Underwood serving 10 straight points. The Seahawks were able to get in as close as five at 15-10, but the Blue Hens remained confident and in control for the remainder of the set, capturing the set by a 25-17 score.

The start of the fourth set was headlined by a back-and-forth battle that saw six ties. The Seahawks scored four straight points to take a two-point lead, 12-10. A Mason kill kickstarted the Blue Hens 6-1 run for the three-point advantage, 16-13. Fighting for the edge for the remainder of the set, UNCW went on a 4-0 run to knot the game at 21. The timeout proved to work well for Delaware as Mason nailed down three of the team's four points to settle the 25-22 set four final.

Mason led the way for the Blue Hens with a match-high 16 kills to go with 17 digs. Kirah Johnson followed with 12 kills, two solo blocks and two digs. Basaranlar directed the Blue Hens' offense with a match-best 36 assists along with six digs and five aces. Anchoring Delaware's defense was Katie Turner with 18 digs. Underwood added six digs, five aces and three kills.

Katie Lanz paced UNCW with 14 kills and five digs. Brianna Haggerty chipped in 10 kills and six digs. Claire Sawyer had 27 assists and five digs while Quinn Manley scooped up a match-high 24 digs.

WHAT'S NEXT
The Blue Hens are scheduled to face UNCW again tomorrow in a CAA battle from Hanover Hall in Wilmington, N.C. at 1 p.m.

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