Mason Shines as Volleyball Sweeps William & Mary

Saturday, November 13

Newark, Del.

1 PM

University of Delaware

13-12,7-8CAA

William & Mary

5-15,2-13CAA

William & Mary

Delaware

Photo by: Mark Campbell

11/13/2021 4:00:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

NEWARK, Del. – The University of Delaware volleyball team left no room for error inside Bob Carpenter Center Saturday afternoon, claiming a straight-set (25-19, 25-19, 25-19) win over the visiting William & Mary (5-15, 2-13 CAA). With the win, the Blue Hens move to a 13-12 record on the season and 7-8 mark in conference play.

Delaware outshined William & Mary all afternoon, putting together their finest attacking percentage in the opening set (.357) to finish the match .325 to .156. The Blue Hens led the way in points (57-41), kills (36-30), aces (11-5), blocks (10-6) and assists (32-27) while the Tribe held the slight edge in digs (31-29).

"I thought we did a lot of really good things today. We were really efficient from the offensive side of the ball," said head coach Sara Matthews. "We can still pick up first-ball contact, I think our serving was good and bad at moments. We were just a little high error sometimes that we needed to keep the ball in play. I think first-ball contact on serve receive we can definitely improve upon that tomorrow. The thing I am most proud of is our out of system play was really good and we still hit for a really high percentage even though our first-ball contact wasn't always there."

After Julia Brown nailed down William & Mary's 10th point in the opening set, Lauryn Richardson and Kirah Johnson teamed up to block Amy Schwem's attacking attempt that ignited a 9-3 Blue Hen run,18-10. The Tribe responded with a 6-1 to pull within three, 22-19, before Delaware scored three-straight points, capped by Richardson's kill, to earn the 25-19 set one win.

With the scoreboard showing 8-6 in favor of Delaware, Lani Mason buried Ezgi Basaranlar's feed to kick start a 7-0 run, highlighted by Grace Underwood serving six-straight points (15-6). William & Mary answered with an 8-1 run of their own to close the gap back to two, 16-14. The next 14 points scored in set two, the Blue Hens was responsible for nine of them, with Basaranlar and Mason connecting for back-to-back points to earn the 25-19 line score.

Heading into set three, William & Mary took their first lead of the match, 5-4, since leading 1-0 in the first set. Delaware regained the lead for good, thanks to block assists by Savannah Seemans and Underwood, 6-5. The Tribe was able to tie the game once (7-7) and then trail only by one twice (9-8, 13-12) before the Blue & Gold ran away with the lead using an 11-4 spurt, 24-16. William & Mary attempted one final rally, scoring three unanswered points before Mason put away the game-winning kill to complete the sweep.

Mason finished with match-highs of 19 kills (season-high .452 attacking percentage) and 11 digs to post her eighth double-double of the season in Delaware's win. Seemans followed with seven kills, five digs and two block assists. Teaming up to direct the Blue Hens offense was Basaranlar and Lily Rogers with 18 and 12 assists respectively. Raising up for six block assists to go with three aces was Underwood (three aces) while Mason, Richardson and Johnson (one block solo) each had a trio of block assists. Katie Turner chipped six digs and four aces.

Brown paced William & Mary with 13 kills and four digs. Kaitlyn Ferguson added seven kills and two block assists. Schwem had 22 assists, 10 digs and two aces while Sabrina Malcolm added four block assists and a solo block.

Matthews added, "I am really looking forward to tomorrow and hope everyone can come out and really support our seniors. They have been an integral part of our program for the past four years. They are just really a special group."

WHAT'S NEXT
The Blue Hens are set to host William & Mary again tomorrow for a regular-season finale inside Bob Carpenter Center at 1 p.m. At the conclusion of the game, the volleyball program will celebrate its four-member 2020 & 2021 senior class consisting of Gabi Zelaya, Adelina Rivera, Katie Turner and Grace Underwood.

BLUE HENS on SOCIAL MEDIA
For the latest on the University of Delaware Volleyball, follow the Blue Hens via social media on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. #BlueHens