Volleyball Defeats Tarleton St., UTSA On Day One Of UTSA Tournament

Friday, September 1

San Antonio, Texas

1:30 PM EST / 12:30 PM CST

University of Delaware

4-0,0-0CAA

Tarleton State University

1-4,0-0WAC

Tarleton St.

Delaware

Photo by: Mikey Reeves

Volleyball Defeats Tarleton St., UTSA On Day One Of UTSA Tournament

9/1/2023 4:22:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

SAN, ANTONIO, Texas - University of Delaware volleyball defeated Tarleton State in five sets (25-19, 24-26, 25-11, 19-25, 15-11) and UTSA in four sets (22-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-16) on day one of the UTSA Tournament.

COACH QUOTE
"I'm so happy with our resilience today," head coach Kimberly Lambert said. "Both teams we faced battled and really forced us to dig deep. We were able to execute at key moments and saw contributions from multiple people."

Highlights vs Tarleton St.

All-around efforts by Madelyn Grunza, Kirah Johnson, Asia Murray, Ezgi Basaranlar, Savannah Seemans, Eileen Gex, Lani Mason, and Amelia Painter highlighted the Blue Hens in the first game
Grunza had a game-high tying 14 kills and hit .481 to go along with six blocks.
Johnson also had 14 kills with a .407 hitting percentage and nine blocks.
Murray had 10 kills and hit .421 along with a game-high 12 blocks.
Basaranlar had 51 assists, seven blocks, and seven digs. She also added three kills.
Seemans had 11 kills and 14 digs.
Gex had 16 digs.
Mason had 13 kills and 11 digs.
Painter also had 11 digs.
Hannah Wright contributed with five digs.
Anna Logan Gillens recorded the first two kills of her career.

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Set

With the score knotted up at nine, Delaware ripped off a 7-0 run to take control of the opening set.
Tarleton St. was able to battle back to cut the lead to 22-19, but Grunza, Johnson, and Seemans had the final three kills to give the Blue Hens a six-point first-set win.
Grunza and Johnson swung hot hands in the first set with five kills each.

Second Set

Delaware used a 4-0 run to take a 10-7 lead early in the second.
The rest of the way featured nine ties and 10 lead changes. Delaware battled back down 24-22 to tie the set, but Tarleton St. scored the final two points to claim it.
Seemans had five kills in the set.

Third Set

Delaware raced out to a 7-1 lead in the third and dominated the rest of the way, eventually using another 7-0 run to lead 19-9.
Delaware closed the set on a 5-0 run, highlighted by two kills by Murray and Grunza, to win it 25-11.
Mason and Murray both had four kills in the set, while Grunza had three.

Fourth Set

Tarleton St. led nearly the entirety of the fourth to force a deciding set.
Delaware was able to cut the lead to 22-18 but was unable to finish off a comeback.

Fifth Set

Delaware found themselves down 8-5 to begin the deciding set, but rallied off five of the next six points to take a 10-9 lead.
Tarleton St. tied the game at 11, but two kills by Mason helped Delaware score the final four points to claim the fifth set. Wright finished it off with an ace for the final point.
Johnson added four more kills in the fifth set.

Notes vs Tarleton St.

Grunza's 14 kills and six blocks were a career-best.
Johnson's 14 kills equaled a career-best, last done on Nov. 18, 2022 against William & Mary.
Murray's 12 blocks are tied for the seventh most in a single-game in program history. She's the first player with a 12-block game since Johnson on Sept. 4, 2022. Her 10 kills are also a career-best. She recorded her first double-double of her career.
Basaranlar had her 11th career game of at least 50 assists. She has had at least 35 assists in all four games this season.
Seemans had her first double-double of the season.
Gex had her third game of the season with at least 15 digs.
Mason recorded her third double-double of the season.
Delaware is 4-0 for the first time since starting 10-0 in 2007. They finished that season 31-5 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Delaware has won their last five matches that have gone five sets dating back to last season.

Highlights vs UTSA

Johnson had 13 kills and hit .480.
Mason had 13 kills and 11 digs.
Grunza had 10 kills and hit .348.
Seemans had 10 kills.
Basaranlar had 42 assists and seven digs.
Murray had seven blocks.
Gex had 10 digs.
Painter had eight digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set

UTSA jumped out to a 7-2 lead. Delaware cut the lead to 12-8, but UTSA upped their advantage to 21-14.
After the slow start, four straight points by Delaware, including two aces by Mason, cut the lead to 21-18.
Delaware battled to cut the lead to 24-22, but UTSA scored the final point of the set to claim the first.

Second Set

The second set began as a back-and-forth affair, but Delaware scored three straight points to take a 13-11 lead and never trailed after.
Delaware scored the next four points after UTSA eventually tied the set at 20, and finished off the set with a 25-21. Johnson had three kills during the final five points.
Grunza had four kills in the set, while Basaranlar had 15 kills.

Third Set

Delaware jumped out to an early 10-6 lead before UTSA rallied back to take a 13-12 lead.
The Blue Hens scored the next five points and six of the next seven to take an 18-14 lead. Delaware upped their lead to 21-15 and held on to claim the set, 25-23.
Mason rattled off five kills in the set.

Fourth Set

Delaware jumped out to a 10-5 lead in fourth set, highlighted by a kill and two aces by Seemans. With the score 12-8, the Blue Hens scored five straight points to take control and take a 17-8 lead.
Wright finished off the set with an ace and Delaware took the set and match, 25-16 and 3-1.
Mason added five more kills in the set.

Notes vs UTSA

Basaranlar had her third consecutive game of at least 40 assists.
Johnson has had a hitting percentage of at least .400 in every game this season and has reached double-digit kills in four of the first five games.
Murray blocked seven more attacks to give her 19 over the first two games of the tournament.
Mason recorded her third straight double-double. She has had double-digit digs in every game this season.
Grunza recorded her third straight-game of at least 10 kills and a .340 hitting percentage.
Gex has had at least 10 kills in every game this season.

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