A slow start to Wednesday night's match against Wilmington University did not deter the Chestnut Hill College Women's volleyball team as they rallied to defeat the Wildcats 3-1 in their final regular season game at Sorgenti Arena this season.
The Griffins improve to 17-8 overall and 10-5 in central Atlantic Collegiate Conference games. The wildcats fall to 11-19 overall and 6-9 in league play.
Wilmington took the first set 25-14 as the Griffins struggled on offense. Chestnut Hill recovered to win the next three sets 25-13, 25-21 and 25-22 to take the match and complete the season sweep of the Wildcats. The season sweep is the first of the Griffins against the Wildcats since the 2016 season.
Erika Dubosky led the Griffins with 17 kills while hitting a robust .400 with just three attack errors in 35 attempts. Cha'kya Johnson and Angela April had 12 and 11 kills respectively.
Pamela Uceta led all players with a career-high seven aces while Dubosky added four. Mia Caporellie recorded 44 assists setting the Griffins' offense and also notched her 13th double-double of the season with 13 digs. Alexandra Crespin led all players with 20 digs.
Wilmington jumped out to an early 8-4 lead in the opening set and added a 12-1 run midway through to take command of the contest. The Griffins battled back but would get no closer than ten 23-13 before the Wildcats closed out the set 25-14.
The Griffins rebounded after the stinging first set loss and led wire-to-wire, jumping out to an early 5-1 lead and then producing a 7-1 run after the Wildcats tied the set at 6-all to take a 13-7 lead. Two aces from Uceta and kills from Kate Hanley and April highlighted the run. Chestnut Hill still led by seven 18-11 when they scored the next six points getting a pair of kills from Johnson along with a kill from Maya Hopson, another one from Hanley and ace from Crespin to up the score to 24-11. Following two Wildcat points, Hopson threw down a kill to clinch the set win, 25-13.
The Wildcats scored the first five points of the third set and opened up a 7-3 lead when the Griffins flew right back into the contest with a 7-1 with Dubosky notching four straight kills to take a 10-8 lead. The Wildcats roared back to take a slim 13-12 lead before Dubosky went to work again, recording a kill and an ace in a 3-0 run to give CHC a 15-13 lead. Chestnut Hill then increased their lead with a 6-1 run to make the score 21-14. Four straight Wilmington points closed the gap to 21-18 and forced a Griffin timeout in an attempt to break up the Wilmington momentum. Chestnut Hill got a kill from Johnson and two more Uceta aces to push the lead to 24-18. Wilmington closed the gap to 24-21 before Hanley put down the kill for the 25-21 win.
April and Dubosky staked the Griffins to a 3-0 lead with Caporellie serving in the fourth set only to see the Wildcats rally to take a 7-6 lead. Another Dubosky kill followed by two straight aces from Hanley reversed the score and put CHC up 9-7. Wilmington came back to take a brief 13-12 lead but gave it back with a pair of bad sets. A 5-0 run, highlighted by Uceta's final two aces of the night gave Chestnut Hill a 20-15 lead, they would not relinquish the rest of the way, holding off the Wildcats for the 25-22 win to take the match.
Eliza Schneider led the Wildcats with 11 kills while Alex Serna chipped in nine. Serna also had three aces. Morgan Daniels had ten digs while Ally Jonika had six blocks.
The women's volleyball team returns to action on Saturday, November 16, 2024, when they travel to face Holy Family university for their final regular season match. Tipoff is set for 12:00 p.m.
