JMU VOLLEYBALL KNOCKS OFF FIRST-PLACE DELAWARE 3-2

Friday, October 23

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7 p.m.

James Madison University

8-16, 1-7CAA

Delaware

14-6, 7-1CAA

Delaware

James Madison

10/24/2009 2:00:00 AM | Volleyball

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va., Oct. 23, 2009 ? James Madison pulled out to a 10-3 lead in the fifth set and held on for a 15-13 win to claim a back-and-forth match 3-2 against Delaware in a Colonial Athletic Association volleyball match Friday evening in Sinclair Gymnasium.

JMU won by set scores of 25-16, 10-25, 25-121, 20-25, and 15-13 to improve to 8-16 overall and 1-7 in the CAA. Delaware, the two-time defending league champion, suffered its first conference loss to fall to 7-1 in the league and 14-6 overall.

“Obviously this is a huge win for us,” stated JMU head coach Disa Garner. “It completely changes everything for this group's mindset. We didn't play well last weekend and they've really buckled down and had great rest this week. Their attitudes have been awesome and we've had great practices preparing for this weekend. From pregame meal when we first saw them today, we could tell that their mindset and attitude were completely different. They really enjoyed the moments during the match. Their passion and wanting to win came from a different place tonight. It was enjoyable to watch them play so well as a group.”

Leading the charge for the Dukes was junior Lindsay Callahan (Virginia Beach, Va./Landstown), who recorded a double-double with 11 kills and 13 digs. Sophomore Holly Wall (Kaukauna, Wisc./Kaukauna) also had a big match with nine kills and a career-best 23 digs.

Beyond those two, a quartet of freshmen turned in outstanding performances to aid the effort. Danielle Erb (Tampa, Fla./Plant) led all players with 16 kills and added eight digs. Megan Wiechmann (Sunland, Calif./Village Christian) had a double-double with 38 assists to go with career highs of 13 digs and five kills. Natalie Abel also had a career high in digs with 23. Haley Jacobsen (Winchester, Va./Sherando) hit .400 with seven kills and added a match-high five blocks.