UD Volleyball Honors Seniors, Closes Regular Season with 3-1 Win Over GSU
November 13, 2010
Photos Courtesy of Mark Campbell_lg.jpg)
• Boxscore
NEWARK, Del. - - Although the University of Delaware volleyball team will host the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament next weekend, it honored its four seniors prior to tonight’s contest before beating Georgia State, 3-1, on Viera Court. Set scores for the match were 18-25, 25-13, 25-20, and 25-12.
The Delaware (24-5, 13-1 CAA) quartet of Jess Chason, Katie Dennehy (at right), Paige Erickson and Greta Gibboney went out with a bang, as they played their final regular season game in front of their home crowd. And all four put on a show. Dennehy had a match high 22 kills, and ended with a .442 hitting percentage. Erickson finished with 10 kills and a match high four block assists while Gibboney had a match high 17 digs. Chason paced the offense, dishing out a match high 48 assists and getting her team leading 12th double-double with 10 digs.
“Dennehy was a stud tonight,” head coach Bonnie Kenny said while starting to talk about each of her four seniors. “That was an unbelievable all-around performance by her tonight. Jess had another great setting game and Paige only had four block assists, but touched a lot of balls, which eventually opened up the middle for her and Karina. Greta was Greta in the back for us tonight. She held down the back of the court.”
Georgia State (14-14, 8-6 CAA) lost its shot at a berth into the CAA Tournament with the loss. Vineece Verdun who tallied 14 kills with a .500 attack percentage led the Panthers. Muki Kangwa was the only other Panther to reach double-digit kills with 10. Chelsea Perry helped pace the Panther attack with 39 assists, while Audrey Cantrell held down the defense with 14 digs.
After an emotional pregame ceremony where each girl was escorted by their family, and given a framed jersey, the Blue Hens came out of the gates sluggish and it showed on the court. The Panthers had a 20-17 lead before reeling off five of the next six points to steal the first set. A block by Verdun and Perry ended the set 25-18.
But after the first set, the Blue Hens seemed to shake the jitters and from then on, it was Delaware’s match. Tied at 4-4 in the second set, a kill by Dennehy started a seven-point swing to grab a commanding 10-4 lead. Dennehy had three kills during that stretch. Another run starting with Erickson’s serve followed at the end of the set allowing Delaware to extend the lead from 18-13 to 25-13. Dennehy added three more kills during the run. Evans finished off the second set with a kill from Chason.
The third set was the closest of the match, although the Hens never trailed. The game started with the Blue Hens taking a 4-0 lead before pushing the lead to 13-6 after a kill from Kim Stewart. The Panthers scored the next five points to get with two, but could not get any closer. Georgia State needed a time out after a Chason ace put the Blue Hens ahead 22-16, but Alker finished off the Panthers with a kill at 25-20. The fourth and final set was all Delaware, as they opened an early lead on the service game of Gibboney. Trailing 3-1 the Hens rattled off 11 straight points, starting with an Alker kill, all with Gibboney behind the service line. She posted an ace during the stretch while Erickson ended with three kills during the span. Two smaller rallies kept the Blue Hens with the momentum, and the match fittingly ended with a kill from Erickson, followed by a twin block from Dennehy and Erickson.
“I am so proud of them and it sure is good to have had them for four years,” Kenny continued. “They are a good group and I hope I can help them reach more of their goals.”
The Blue Hens will host the CAA Tournament next weekend, starting with the semifinals on Saturday. The pairings came down to the final weekend of action in the conference, and when the dust settled, Delaware drew VCU (fourth seed) that will begin at 7:30 p.m. on November 20. The first semi-final match will see #2 James Madison take on #3 Northeastern at 5 p.m. All matches will be played on Viera Court.
AGATE:
Delaware def. Georgia State, 3-1 (18-25, 25-13, 25-20, 25-12)
Delaware (kills-assists-digs): Erickson (10-2-7), Stewart (4-0-14), Dennehy (22-1-6), Chason (5-48-10), Alker (15-1-15), Evans (5-0-0), Rosehill (0-0-0), Hank (0-0-0), Gibboney (0-3-17), Lawrence (0-0-0).
Georgia State: Freeman (5-0-5), A. Jones (6-0-10), Verdun (14-0-7), Kangwa (10-0-4), R. Jones (4-0-1), Perry (3-39-7), Boryc (0-0-2), Cantrell (0-1-14), Averbeck (0-1-9).
Total Team Blocks: Delaware – 6, Georgia State - 4
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