News Release

Katie Shorter Picks up 200th Career Block Assist in 3-1 Defeat of Post on Volleyball’s Senior Day

VB: Wilmington 3 - Post 1

On a day in which the Wilmington University volleyball team honored its two seniors for playing in their final regular season match in the Green and White, junior middle hitter Katie Shorter stole the show, picking up her 200th career block assist in a 3-1 victory over Post on Saturday afternoon at the WU Athletics Complex.

Rounding out the 2012 regular season, the Wildcats (26-5, 18-1 CACC) got back to its winning ways after having a 15-match win streak snapped last weekend to head into next week’s Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament. Post (10-17, 9-10 CACC) earned a CACC Tournament berth with a five set victory over Goldey-Beacom on Friday night and will be the North Division’s No. 4 seed in next week’s tournament.

Coming into the match, Shorter needed just one block assist to reach the 200 plateau and accomplished the feat to give the Wildcats a 14-8 advantage in the first set. Shorter was already the Wildcat program record holder in solo blocks, block assists, total blocks, and blocks per set, needing only 303 sets in three seasons to reach the mark. She finished with one solo block and six block assists on Saturday afternoon.

Seniors Nicole Wiechecki and Brooke Foskey were recognized prior to the match for their commitment and dedication to the Wildcat program for the past couple seasons.

Wiechecki joined Wilmington after playing a season at NCAA Division I Robert Morris and has led the Wildcats in kills in each of the past three seasons. Foskey came to the Wildcats after playing a season at West Chester and taking a year off from volleyball at Cecil County College before playing the past two seasons at Wilmington. With both of them combined on the team, the Wildcats have gone 46-15 overall and 32-6 in the CACC.

On Saturday, The Wildcats took the lead from good in the first set by scoring nine of 10 points to turn a 6-4 deficit into a 13-7 lead. After Post scored three straight points to cut the deficit to 22-16, the Wildcats got kills from Brittany Biddle and Wiechecki, and an Eagles’ attack error to close out the set, 25-16.

Trailing 8-5 in the second set, the Wildcats turned on the jets and tallied 12 of the next 15 points and 19 of 26 overall to grab set point and a 24-15 lead. Post denied the Wildcats of four set points and closed to with six at 24-19, but a Post service error gave Wilmington a 2-0 set lead, with a 25-19 game two score.

The Wildcats jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the third set, but the Eagles retaliated with seven of the next eight points to take a 9-7 lead. Foskey and Shorter had kills sandwiched around a Hannah McQueen ace for the Wildcats to regain the lead at 11-10, but now tied at 13 all, an Eagles kill by Kelly Hayes gave the visitors the lead for good in the set. The kill by Hayes sparked a 5-0 run and another 3-0 run late gave the Eagles set point at 24-17 before Monique Chance kept the Eagles alive with a kill to end the set, 25-19.

Wilmington came back out onto the court in the fourth set and proved to the Eagles how they gained the South Division’s No. 1 seed by scoring 10 straight points to take a 10-1 lead early on. Another 7-2 run put the home team up 17-5 and another 5-0 spurt gave the Wildcats match point at 24-10. Shorter bookended the final run with a pair of kills while Kasey Couch added an ace at 22-10. An Eagles’ service error gave Wilmington the fourth set and match point at 25-11.

The CACC Quarterfinal preview was a block party for the home team, as the Wildcats outblocked the Eagles, 14-5. In addition to Shorter’s blocks, Biddle and Alex Siolos cleaned up with seven block assists each while Foskey added three, DiGiacinto had two and Wiechecki rounded out the blocks with one. In all the Wildcats tallied 26 block assists and one solo block.

DiGiacinto led the team with 12 kills while seniors Foskey and Wiechecki each collected nine kills. Shorter also added eight kills on the afternoon.

On the defensive side of the ball, DiGiacinto tied for the match high with 18 digs while Wiechecki added 16. Shelby Henderson tallied 11 digs off the bench for the Wildcats.

With Saturday’s win, The Wildcats secured Tuesday’s CACC Tournament Quarterfinal matchup with Post, the North Division’s No. 4 seed. The match will begin at 7 p.m. at the WU Athletics Complex. Admission will be charged for all Conference Tournament games, including first round contests. Fee will be $6 for adults, $3 for children, senior citizens and students with ID. Children under the age of 3 will be admitted for free.   

Published: Saturday, November 3, 2012 - Newark, Del.