LAKEWOOD, NJ (Sept. 23, 2023) - Georgian Court Volleyball remains unbeaten at home after taking care of Wilmington in straight sets Saturday afternoon. The Lions took down the Wildcats 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-17) on a day when both their offense and defense was clicking. The win moves GCU to 7-5 this season and 2-1 in the CACC.

How it Happened
• The match featured 15 tie scores and six lead changes. Most of those came in set two, but there were at least four tie scores in all three sets. 
• The Lions hit .232 for the match with 39 kills and just 13 errors. Wilmington hit into 18 errors with 31 kills with a .119 attack percentage.
• Wilmington entered as the top blocking team in the CACC, but put back just four and Georgian Court out-blocked them 4-3.
• Georgian Court's defense also picked up 53 digs to Wilmington's 49.
• Both teams collected and gave up points on the serve. Georgian Court hit seven aces but eight errors. Wilmington hit five aces and committed nine service errors.
• The Lions attack percentage improved with each set. GCU also sided-out at least 60% in all three frames.
Set 1
• Wilmington was the team to get out in front early. They took a 7-3 lead after the first 10 points.
• Georgian Court used a 7-3 run of their own, helped out by a number of Wilmington attack errors to tie things at 10-all.
• Still tied at 12, the Lions scored four straight with a Jessica Sprankle service ace and Amiyah Woods kill to take a 16-12 lead.
• The Lions led the rest of the way, pushing the lead to as much as seven, 22-15 after back-to-back Giorgia Cappelletti kills.
• Chelsea Ross finished the set with a solo block and the Lions led the match 1-0.
Set 2
• Georgian Court scored the first three points, but set two went back-and-forth to the end.
• The teams continued to trade points at the outset and Wilmington finally evened the set 12-12.
• The frame was tied at each from from 12-12 to 17-17.
• Wilmington took a two-point edge, 18-16, but the Lions scored four straight with kills from Woods and Ross and a Kylie Runyon service ace for a two-point lead of their own, 20-18.
• The Lions led the rest of the way after hitting .273 for the set with 14 kills.
Set 3
• GCU never trailed in the third set. They took a 3-0 lead and although Wilmington came back to tie, they never took the lead away from the Lions.
• Tied at 11, the Lions used an 8-1 run to get ahead 19-12. Nylene Mateo landed three straight kills at one point during the run.
• Cappelletti finished off the match with her second service ace as GCU won 25-17, limiting the Wildcats to just seven kills.
• Mateo and Cappelletti each landed five kills in frame. Cappelletti did so on just six attempts hitting .833 for the set.

Lion Stat Leaders
• Giorgia Cappelletti landed a match-high 14 kills and hit .542 for the game with 12 digs.
• Nylene Mateo added eight kills and seven digs.
• Chelsea Ross and Amiyah Woods each landed six kills. Ross added four blocks and hit .500.
• Iciar Zayas passed 33 assists and scored two kills herself.
• Jessica Sprankle's 17 digs were a game-high. She also scored three service aces.

For the Wildcats
• Cailyn Smiley scored 9.5 points with eight kills and two blocks.  
• Alex Serna landed eight kills as well.
• Katie Bushong nearly had a double-double with 23 assists and eight digs.
• Elly Collins led the defense with 15 digs.

News and Notes
• Nylene Mateo landed her 900th career kill.
• Giorgia Cappelletti reached the 100 dig milestone.
• Amiyah Woods surpassed 250 career kills.
• The win pushed GCU ahead in the all-time series 23-22.
• It was the first sweep of Wilmington since 2019.

Up Next
• Georgian Court is in the middle of a four-match homestand. They're home three times next week starting Wednesday, Sept. 27 against Holy Family. First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m.