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Hickey Leads DeSales to 3-1 Win over Conference Rival FDU-Florham
BOX
SCORE
Center Valley, PA (October 12, 2011) – In what was the
biggest match of the season up till this point for the DeSales
University volleyball team, the Bulldogs lone senior,
Lauren
Hickey, led the way recording a match-high 18
kills leading DSU to a 3-1 (25-21, 19-25, 25-22, 25-21) win over
Freedom Conference rival FDU-Florham on Wednesday night in Billera
Hall.
DSU's (24-3, 5-0 Freedom) win is its fifth straight and give head
coach Michele
Zabinski a personal best for wins in a season,
surpassing the 23 she led the Bulldogs to in 2009. The loss
drops the Devils to 21-7 overall and 3-2 in the Freedom
Conference.
The first two sets saw DeSales get out of the gates quickly in the
first set to record the win and the Devils counter in set #2 for a
25-19 win. The third set was tight throughout and was tied at
20 but two quick points including a kill from Hickey and a service
ace from freshman Amanda
Wallitsch made it 22-20 before four straight
side outs set up set point in which junior Paige
Horrigan put down the decisive point to give DSU
a 2-1 set lead.
In the fourth set, FDU came out strong opening up a 7-1 lead and
continued to lead 18-11 before DeSales rallied. A Devil
service errors seemed to switch the momentum as the Bulldogs ran
off four straight points on junior Justine
McNulty's serve including two kills by sophomore
Haley
Petrarca. A quick side out saw sophomore
Madeline
Svrcek serve two straight points before another
quick side out was met with junior Eden
Reichard serving two straight points as DSU
climbed all the way back to take a 22-20 lead.
Another quick side out by the Bulldogs set up sophomore
Emilie
Baker with the serve and a 23-21 lead.
After a block assist from Hickey and freshman Chrissy
Banos, Hickey finished it off with her 18th kill
of the match as DSU came all the way back from down 18-11 to win
the fourth set, 25-21.
Hickey finished with 18 kills, just three errors, and a .326
hitting percentage to go along with three blocks. Petrarca
and Horrigan each had 11 kills with Horrigan hitting .360.
Horrigan along with Banos were terrific in the middle with five
blocks each, while Petrarca added four blocks.
McNulty did another masterful job running the offense with 40
assists and added 10 digs. Reichard and Wallitsch spearheaded
another strong defensive effort with 20 and 16 digs respectively,
while Svrcek added 13 digs and Baker totaled 10 digs, two aces, and
two blocks.
The Bulldogs get a well-deserved six days off before returning to
action when they host Delaware Valley College in another important
Freedom Conference match beginning at 7:00 pm. A win over the
Aggies assures DSU of hosting at least one Freedom Conference
playoff game.
