Blue Hens Secure 3-0 Win in Season Opener

Friday, August 27

Philadelphia, Pa.

2:30 PM

University of Delaware

1-0,0-0CAA

Rider

0-1,0-0MAAC

Rider

Delaware

Photo by: Mark Campbell

8/27/2021 4:19:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – The Delaware volleyball team captured a 3-0 victory in its season opener against Rider on Friday afternoon.

"Overall, it was a great start for our first match of the season," head coach Sara Matthews said. "We had a few uncharacteristic errors in the third set that put us down in a hole, but I am really proud of the response and resilience of our girls. They stuck with things, trusted each other, and worked their way back into the match. Offensively, we had great distribution and will continue to get better from an efficiency standpoint. I'm looking forward to our next two matches."

Savannah Seemans paced the Blue Hens' (1-0) offense with a game-high 12 kills against the Broncs (0-2). Lani Mason, who returned to action after missing all of last season due to injury, played a key role as well after finishing the match with nine kills to go along with eight digs and three blocks.

Lauryn Richardson pieced together a seven-kill outing to pair with four blocks, while Ezgi Basaranlar served as the primary setter and came away with a game-high 28 assists.

In her Delaware debut, Kirah Johnson got the start and logged five kills and a game-best seven blocks.

For the second consecutive year, Delaware (1-0) opened its season with a win. The Blue Hens last claimed back-to-back season-opening victories in 2014 and 2015. Delaware's most recent season-opening sweep of an opponent came on Aug. 24, 2018 against Morgan State.

SET ONE
The Blue Hens started things off with a 3-0 run and proceeded to lead for the entirety of the opening set. Mason, Richardson and Seemans posted three kills apiece with an .818 attack percentage.
Rider trimmed the deficit to three, 16-13, before Delaware erupted for a 9-2 run to close out the set.

SET TWO
The two sides were deadlocked at 11-11 after a back-and-forth battle before Delaware outscored the Broncs, 14-6 to secure the set win. Seemans once again had a strong performance after tallying four kills, while Johnson notched three with a pair of blocks.

SET THREE
The Blue Hens trailed by as much as eight, 15-7, in the third set. However, a 14-3 Delaware run gave the Blue Hens a lead that it would not relinquish en route to picking up the win.

UP NEXT
Delaware will return to action at 7 p.m. to take on host Temple.