JMU VOLLEYBALL SWEEPS DELAWARE IN THREE GAMES

Friday, October 13

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7 p.m.

James Madison University

13-6, 7-3CAA

Delaware

14-5, 5-5CAA

Delaware

James Madison

10/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va., Oct. 13, 2006 - Three James Madison University players hit over .400 with double-digit kills as the Dukes swept the University of Delaware 3-0 in Colonial Athletic Association volleyball action on Friday night in Sinclair Gymnasium.

JMU (13-6, 7-3 CAA) defeated UD (14-5, 5-5 CAA) by game scores of 30-28, 30-17, and 30-28. The Dukes evened the season series with the Blue Hens after falling 3-2 in Newark on Sept. 9. JMU won for the ninth time in its last 10 matches and improved to 10-1 at home in 2006.

James Madison grabbed the lead in game one at 4-3 and maintained a slight advantage until Delaware knotted the score at 16-16. The Blue Hens took their first lead since early in the game at 21-20. After a 23-23 tie, senior Hanna Porterfield (Arlington, Va./Bishop O'Connell) notched a kill to give JMU the lead for good. Delaware kept it within one or two points the rest of the way, but with the score at 29-28, freshman Stephanie Barry (Long Beach, Calif./Wilson) committed a service error to give JMU the game one victory.

Game two was dominated by the Dukes. After an early 7-7 tie, JMU went on a 13-4 run to pull ahead 20-11 and never looked back. The Dukes hit .400 as a team with just one attack error and had five of their 10 blocks for the match. Meanwhile Delaware was limited to .093 hitting.

JMU jumped out to another lead in the third game at 10-4. Delaware started to build momentum and pulled within one at 12-11. JMU held onto a slim margin until the Blue Hens finally tied the score at 20-20 and went up as much as 22-20 on a service ace by sophomore Kelly Gibson (Taos, N.M./Taos). JMU tied the score at 25-25 and the teams traded sideouts until a 28-28 tie. Senior Ashley Copenhaver (Hedgesville, W.Va./Hedgesville) stepped up with a critical kill for a sideout and junior Allyson Halls (Columbus, Ohio/Olentangy) finished off Delaware with a match-ending kill.

JMU had three players combine for 37 kills and a .434 attack percentage. Halls finished with a .440 attack percentage and a team-high 14 kills along with six blocks. Eight of her kills came in the opening game. Porterfield hit .400 with 12 kills and three blocks, while sophomore Michelle Johnson (Los Gatos, Calif./Los Gatos) hit .474 with 11 kills and three blocks. Freshman Kaitlin McFaddin (Natural Bridge Station, Va./Rockbridge) added nine kills and five digs. Sophomore setter Lauren Miles (Tampa, Fla./Tampa Prep) had her 12^th double-double of the season with 45 assists, 15 digs, three kills, and five blocks. She had 18 assists each in games one and three. Junior Jena Pierson (San Antonio, Texas/James Madison) upped her conference-leading dig average to 6.49 per game after collecting 26 passes. She needs just 15 digs to tie Patti Bucaria's season digs record of 469 set in 1992.

Delaware was led by the duo of Gibson and junior Colleen Walsh ((Cleveland, Ohio/Regina) who each collected double-doubles. Gibson tallied 16 kills and 14 digs along with three service aces. Walsh also had 16 kills with 11 digs. Jun