Volleyball Falls 3-1 at Defending CAA Champion Delaware

Friday, October 7

Newark, Del.

James Madison University

12-5, 3-1CAA

Delaware

9-11, 2-2CAA

James Madison

Delaware

10/8/2011 1:00:00 AM | Volleyball

Box Score

NEWARK, Del., Oct. 7, 2011 – Defending Colonial Athletic Association champion Delaware handed the James Madison volleyball team its first conference loss of the season, defeating JMU 3-1 at the Carpenter Sports Building in Newark, Del., on Friday night. The Blue Hens won by set scores of 25-20, 25-17, 23-25, 25-14 for their third win in the last four matches.

JMU had its winning streak snapped at four games to drop to 12-5 on the season and 3-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association. Delaware improved to 9-11 overall and 2-2 in league play.

UD hit .302 as a team, including .405 by Kim Stewart and .364 from Katie Hank to power the offense. Stewart had a match-high 16 kills against just one error while adding 11 digs for the double-double. Hank finished with 15 kills and committed just three errors. Libero Cara Rosehill added a match-high 21 digs with Alissa Alker finishing with 19 digs and six kills. Setter Rene Tomko controlled the offense by chipping in 46 assists and 11 digs for the Hens.

The Dukes were led by senior outside hitter Holly Wall (Kaukauna, Wisc./Kaukauna) who finished with 12 kills and 16 digs for her third double-double of the season. Four other players had at least seven kills for Madison led by redshirt junior outside hitter Natalie Abel (Washington, Pa./Trinity) with nine kills and 14 digs while junior outside hitter Danielle Erb (Tampa, Fla./Plant) had eight kills on .208 hitting. Freshman middle blocker Lizzy Briones (Siloam Springs, Ark./Siloam Springs) hit a team-best .357, finishing with seven kills. Junior Megan Wiechmann (Sunland, Calif./Village Christian) and redshirt freshman Kristi Richardson (Glen Allen, Va./Hermitage) combined for 41 assists from the setter position, and added two kills, two digs, one service ace and one block.

Defensively, sophomore libero Katie Daorai (Tampa, Fla./Plant) tied Wall with a team-best 16 digs. JMU received just two blocks with Abel, Wall, senior middle blocker Kelly Turner (Ontario, N.Y./Wayne Central) and sophomore middle blocker Kelly Maguire (Long Valley, N.J./West Morris Central) each registering one block assist.

Madison hit .163 to Delaware's .302 while also trailing four to two in blocks. Delaware also lead 71-56 in digs and 8-6 in service aces.

The Dukes will look to bounce back on Sunday as they tra