Devils Defeat Griffins for Second Straight Win

Cady Rich and Christine Puschak had nine kills apiece as the University of the Sciences women's volleyball team won their second straight match with a 3-1 (25-17, 25--20, 9-25, 25-18) win over Chestnut Hill College Tuesday night at the Bobby Morgan Arena.

The Devils improve to 8-12 overall and 6-10 in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference matches with the win.   The Griffins fall to 4-20 overall and 1-13 in league play.

Puschak's nine kills came on 19 attempts with just three errors for a .316 attack percentage.  Rich had an attack percentage of .174 (9-5-23).  The Devils freshman duo of Diana Solomon and Lauren Mobley had six kills apiece.  Stacey Wooden led the Devils with 17 digs while Sheryse Taylor added 11.  Senior setter Sarah Hickman had 20 assists.  Rich and Mobley led all players with three blocks apiece.

Madelynn Ries led the Griffins with a match-high 15 kills.  Cassie Benson and Kailey Arlen added seven and six kills respectively. Elisabath DiGregorio led all players with 21 digs while Bobbie Chukuntarod added 14.  Benson and Mary Markowski each had two blocks.

The Devils used a 7-2 run early in the opening set to break out to a 12-7 lead.  Chestnut Hill slowly chipped away and pulled within three, 17-14 before kills from Puschak and Solomon highlighted a 4-0 Devils run to make the score 21-14.  Sciences scored four of the last seven points to win th set 25-17.

Chestnut Hill held an early 8-7 lead in the second set before a 5-1 run by the Devils gave the home team a 12-9 lead upon completion of the first service rotation.  Two straight points from the Griffins cut the lead to one, 12-11 before the Devils started to gradually increase their lead, going up by as much as seven 22-15.  Chestnut Hill countered with a 5-1 rally of their own to pull within three, 23-20 before the Devils scored the last two points to win the set 25-20.

As good as the Devils looked in winning the first two sets, they were just the opposite in the third set, managing just two kills as Chestnut Hill dominated, winning 25-9.  The momentum carried into the fourth set as the Griffins built leads of 4-2 and 8-4. The Devils closed within one, 8-7 and later took their first lead 12-11  on a kill from Rich with Solomon serving.  Sciences took control with a 9-3 spurt to lead 21-15 before closing out the match with four of the next seven points to win 25-18.

The Devils return to action on Saturday, October 30, 2010 when they face Bloomfield College in a CACC crossover match in Bloomfield, New Jersey.