Lackluster Play Leads to Devils Sixth Straight Loss

Thursday night's women's volleyball match between the University of the Sciences and Philadelphia University was a tale of two teams going in opposite directions.  The host Rams got back on the winning track and maintained their first place standing in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference  while the visiting Devils continued their backward spiral, losing to the Rams in straight sets 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-15). 

The loss was the Devils sixth straight overall and fifth straight in league play, dropping their record to 5-10 overall and 3-8 in league games.  Philadelphia improves to 11-6 overall and 9-2 in league play. 

Christine Puschak led the Devils with nine kills and was the only Sciences player with positive attack numbers (9-5-20, .200).  Sarah Hickman and Diana Solomon had 14 and 10 assists apiece, while Stacey Wooden added 12 digs.  Hickman also chipped in 11 digs. 

Ellie Edgar led the Rams with 12 kills and a .500 attack percentage (12-2-20).   Lauren Hoover had 18 assists while Leana Lillge had four aces and led all players with 15 digs.  Brittany Olson had 10 digs while Jordan Milligan had three blocks. 

Sciences turned in their best effort of the match in the opening set, despite being unable to string anymore than two offensive points at any given time in the set.  The Devils had an early 10-8 lead before four straight points by the Rams reversed the lead in their favor.  A kill from Lauren Mobley later evened the score at 14-14 but the Rams scored three quick points to take a 17-14 lead.  Philadelphia opened their biggest lead 22-18 before the Devils closed the gap to one, 22-21 taking advantage of a service error by the Rams followed by a Solomon kill and a Sheryse Taylor ace.  The Rams scored three of the final four points to win the set 25-22. 

The Rams jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the second set and later increased the margin to 21-9 before stringing together four straight points, their largest run of the match, getting kills from Solomon and Puschak with a pair of Ram attack errors sandwiched in between.  Both teams exchanged points the rest of the way with the Rams prevailing 25-17. 

The Devils opened the third set with three attack errors in the first five rallies and quickly found themselves in a 6-0 hole.  Kills by Puschak and Mobley brought Sciences within four 7-3 before an 8-2 run by the Rams quickly put the game back in control of the home team, 15-5.  The Devils managed just four kills the rest of the set as the Rams completed the sweep with a 25-15 win. 

The Devils return home to face Concordia College in a CACC crossover match on Saturday, October 16, 2010 at the Bobby Morgan Arena at 1:00 p.m.