Volleyball Starts Off Blue Hen Invitational With Season-Opening Win Over Loyola (Md.)

Friday, August 25

Newark, Del.

5 PM

University of Delaware

1-0,0-0CAA

Loyola (Md.)

0-1,0-0Patriot

Loyola Maryland

Delaware

Photo by: Mikey Reeves

Volleyball Starts Off Blue Hen Invitational With Season-Opening Win Over Loyola (Md.)

8/25/2023 7:52:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

NEWARK, Del. - University of Delaware volleyball defeated Loyola (Md.) in four sets (25-17, 24-26, 25-14, 25-18) in their season opener at the Bob Carpenter Center to start off the Blue Hen Invitational.

COACH QUOTE
"Really happy with the defensive effort, especially our blocking," head coach Kimberly Lambert said. "We did a good job executing our gameplan and we're looking forward to the rest of the weekend at home."

HEN HIGHLIGHTS

Lani Mason, the reigning CAA Player of the Year and preseason CAA Player of the Year, had a game-high 14 kills to go with a .500 hitting percentage and 11 digs.
Kirah Johnson had 11 kills with a .556 hitting percentage and five blocks.
Ezgi Basaranlar had 38 assists and four blocks.
Eileen Gex also had 11 digs and two aces.
Asia Murray had nine blocks in her collegiate debut.
Savannah Seemans had four aces, while Hannah Wright had two.

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST SET

The Blue Hens jumped out to a quick 7-3 lead in the opening set, which featured back-to-back aces by Seemans.
With the score 14-13, Delaware ripped off six consecutive points, where Murray recorded three of her blocks, to extend the lead to seven.
Another ace by Seemans closed out a first-set victory, 25-17. Johnson had four kills in the opening set.

SECOND SET

Loyola went up 7-3 early in the second-set, and extended their lead to 17-12 later on.
Back-back kills by Seemans and Johnson started off a Delaware run to cut the lead to three, then a kill by Mason and two straight blocks by Murray and Basaranlar tied the score at 19.
After Delaware went up 22-21, Loyola scored three straight points. The Blue Hens tied the score at 24 after two straight kills by Madelyn Grunza, but Loyola was able to finish off the set at 26-24.

THIRD SET

Delaware took a 10-2 lead to begin set three. Mason had two kills during the run and Wright recorded a pair of aces.
Loyola cut the lead down to 14-8, but Delaware closed the set by outscoring the Greyhounds 11-6, including the set's final four points.
Mason had five kills in the set, while Seemans and Grunza had three each.

FOURTH SET

After the score was tied 6-6 in the fourth set, the Blue Hens took a 14-9 lead and held it for the rest of the set.
Loyola cut it down to 17-14, but Delaware scored five of the next six points, and scored the final three points of the set to win 25-18 and take the match at 3-1.
Johnson had four kills in the final set.

GAME NOTES

Delaware improves to 37-2 all-time against Loyola, and 16-0 at home.
Mason recorded her 29th career double-double.
Basaranlar now has 2,934 assists for her career.
Murray's five-kill, nine-block performance was her collegiate debut. Her nine blocks were the most by a Delaware player since Johnson had 12 against UMBC on Sept. 4, 2022.

UP NEXT