Philadelphia, PA - In their final non-conference match of the 2004 season, the La Salle Explorers fell victim to the visiting Delaware Blue Hens Tuesday night at Tom Gola Arena. The Explorers drop to 8-20, whil the Blue Hens notched their 20th win of the season to stand at 20-6.

Delaware opened the match by taking slight control of game one, but the Explorers managed to take the lead at 21-20. After trading points for the next several points, the Blue Hens got the two-point advantage at the end of the game to take the game 31-29.

In game two, Delaware again took the lead but the Explorers tied the game at 13-13 and from there built a five point lead at 19-14. The Blue Hens were not looking to go away easy, and rallied to tie the score at 26-26. The Explorers scored the next point, but Delaware again tied the score, but La Salle went on to score the next three points and even the match at 1-1.

Game three proved again to be too close to call a winner, in fact La Salle held a 15-11 lead before Delaware rebounded to take a 19-18 lead. The Explorers hung in the game, but the Blue Hens ran off points to take a five point lead at 27-22. La Salle managed just one more point before the Blue Hens took game three 30-23.

Game four was another close one in the beginning, but Delaware wanted its 20th win of the season and handed the Explorers a 30-21 loss.

La Salle's Abby Means (Stevens, PA/Cocalico) led the way with 16 kills on 36 attempts, while hitting .333 for the match. Samantha Takacs (Columbus, OH/Bishop Watterson) continues on her offensive drive knocking down 12 kills. Junior Kara Branz (Streator, IL/Streator Township) turned in the best hitting percentage for the Explorers at .381, on nine kills, one error and 21 attempts.

Libero Caitlin DeJong (Lansing, IL/Marian Catholic) posted a team-high 25 digs, while setter Amanda Woods (Cincinnati, OH/McNicholas) tallied 16 and freshman Stephanie Owen (Burlington, WI/Burlington) added 13.

Delaware's Valerie Murphy (Round Hill, VA/Loudoun Valley) led all players with 19 kills and teammate Colleen Walsh (Cleveland, OH/Regina) contributed 15 kills in the Blue Hens' victory.

The Blue Hens' Taylor Govaars (Balboa, CA/Newport Harbor) also posted a match-high with 28 digs.

The Explorers will hit the road for an Atlantic 10 weekend when they visit Dayton on Friday at 7:00 p.m., followed by Xavier on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.