VILLANOVA, Pa. – La Salle (5-5) defeated the Blue Hens on Friday in convincing fashion, 3-1. Delaware (8-2) came into the game having only dropped one contest all season, but the Explorers jumped out to a two-set lead and never looked back. Senior
Catherine Edgington paced the Explorers with a career-high 16 kills, while senior
Kathryn Wood (48 assists, 11 digs) and junior
Samantha Graver (14 kills, 11 digs) both had impressive showings with double-doubles.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The game began as a back-and-forth affair and neither team really separated in the early going. La Salle held a 6-3 advantage until Delaware pulled it back to 7-6. In the action that followed, the Explorers gave themselves breathing room courtesy of an 11-2 run. Delaware climbed within seven later in the set, but La Salle finished strongly with four straight points.
- La Salle held an early advantage in the second frame, notably going up 7-4. It maintained a three-point cushion for quite some time, never allowing Delaware to get too close with leads of 8-5, 10-7, 11-8, 12-9 and 13-10. After that, a 9-3 jaunt by the Explorers gave them a nine-point lead and enough momentum to take the second set.
- The Blue Hens opened the third with a fire to their play and it showed with a quick 8-2 lead. The Explorers would get within four at one point, but Delaware eventually stretched its advantage to 18-10. A 5-1 run from La Salle made things interesting, but the Blue Hens answered by outscoring La Salle 6-2 to take the set.
- Neither team gave up an inch to start the fourth. La Salle was the first to take a definitive upper hand when an attack error gave it a 9-5 lead. After that, Delaware would only score six more points in the set as the Explorers closed out the game with authority.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Freshman fantastic: Rachel Hess tallied a team-high 12 digs, while serving up a game-best five aces. The latter stat equaled Delaware's entire team output, doubled Hess' season tally and was one shy of tying the program record over four sets. The last time a freshman recorded five aces in a game was Graver against Penn (in five sets) on 9/10/17.
- For her part, fellow rookie Marisa Guisti tied her career-high with five blocks to go along with five kills. Guisti's blocks were tied for the game high with senior Devin Corah.
- Graver tallied her seventh double-double of the season, while Wood's stat line gave her six double-doubles in 2019.
- In all, the Explorers recorded 55 kills with a .376 hitting percentage, while the Blue Hens finished with 38 kills on .170 hitting. La Salle also notably had more blocks (8-5) and aces (11-5) in the game.
UP NEXT
- The Explorers will look for their second win of the weekend against Princeton on Saturday. The game starts at 4:30 p.m.
