Wilkes Women's Volleyball Cruises to Three-Set Victory
WILKES-BARRE, PA – The Wilkes University women's volleyball team made quick work of Delaware Valley on Wednesday night at the Marts Center. Wilkes won in straight sets (25-17, 25-8 and 25-16) to capture their first conference win of the season.
With the win, Wilkes improves to 12-4 and 1-2 in the MAC Freedom. The loss drops Delaware Valley to 3-8 and 0-3 in MAC Freedom play.
Wilkes came out of the gates slow as they were tied at 7-7 early on in the first set. That's when the Colonels found their stride and went on a 13-5 run, capped off by an Alex Ferrier (Cressona, PA/Blue Mountain) service ace to give Wilkes a 20-12 lead. The Aggies would close the gap to four at 21-17 but the Colonels would score the next four points on a pair of kills by Michele Natale (Kinnelon, NJ/Kinnelon) and Sierra Smith (Syracuse, NY/West Genesee) to take set one 25-17.
In the second set, Wilkes jumped out to a commanding 12-5 lead. The Colonels would keep their foot on the gas as they would score 12 straight points with Juliet Betke (Poplar Grove, IL/Belvidere North) controlling the serves for the navy and gold. The run pushed the lead to 22-5 and Wilkes closed out the set with three straight points, finished off by a Ferrier kill, to give the second set to the Colonels 25-8.
It was a similar story in the third set as Wilkes again rushed out to a 14-6 lead. Delaware Valley settled down and went on a small 5-2 run to cut the deficit to seven at 19-12. A service ace by Shayna Fehrle (Philadelphia, PA/St. Hubert) would stop the Aggie momentum and give Wilkes a 20-12 lead. After trading a couple points, the Colonels scored four of the last five points, punctuated by two Laura Booths (Lake Ariel, PA/Western Wayne) kills, to close out the set 25-16 and secure a three-set sweep.
Everybody contributed on the offensive end as only Ferrier had double digit kills with 10. Karlye Huffman (Sugar Run, PA/Wyalusing) orchestrated the attack with 33 assists. Defensively, Jamey Mikovich (Nesquehoning, PA/Panther Valley) led the way with 14 digs.
The Colonels were lethal from the service line with 11 aces compared to the Aggies three.
Wilkes returns to the floor on Friday September 28th when they head to SUNY Cortland for a weekend tri-match. The Colonels take on RIT at 6:00 p.m. before playing two matches on Saturday against Morrisville State at 11:00 a.m. and the host Red Dragons at 1:30 p.m.
