LAKEWOOD, NJ (Oct. 22, 2024) - Georgian Court Volleyball hasn't made life easy on themselves this season, getting down early in matches and needing to furiously comeback. While that's been a recipe for success with five wins after dropping set one, the Lions knew it wasn't a sustainable way to play. Tuesday night they finally got to play with a lead and after a tight opening set, were on cruise control to a 3-0 sweep of Wilmington, 26-24, 25-15, 25-8. GCU moves to 8-1 as we got past the halfway point in the CACC season and 11-7 overall.

How it Happened
• Georgian Court dominated in all facets of the game. They hit .333 while Wilmington had just three more kills than errors and hit .032.
• The service line was another advantage for the Lions who connected for 10 aces and the Wildcats just two. 
• In the three sets, GCU put back five more blocks than Wilmington. They also grabbed 43 digs to Wilmington's 28.
• Georgian Court was at 66% sideout percentage for all three sets. Wilmington was at 61% in the first, then kept dropping to 41% in set two and 28% in set three.
• The entire match saw just one tie score and Wilmington never held a lead.
Set 1
• With two Chelsea Ross blocks and a Giorgia Cappelletti kill, the Lions scored the first three points in the opening set.
• GCU kept a small lead throughout, but were unable to put the Wildcats away.
• The Lions gave away points with two rotation errors, two ball-handling errors and a block error to keep allow Wilmington to creep back into the set.
• GCU looked to be in a comfortable position up 23-18, but Wilmington went on a 6-1 run to the set at 24.
• Now tied for the first time, Mateo gave GCU the advantage with her sixth kill and Amiyah Woods ended it with her own kill for a 26-24 set one win.
Set 2
• Once again the Lions got out to a 3-0 lead. It started with a Wildcat service error and was all GCU from there.
• Back-to-back kills from Mateo and Woods made it 7-1 and Wilmington needed a timeout.
• Wilmington hung around for a bit, keeping it at a five-point set, 15-10.
• GCU then scored five straight, getting two Cappelletti service aces and two Wildcat attack errors.
• The Lion lead was now 10 and stayed that way and the teams traded points and GCU took the second set, 25-15.
Set 3
• The onslaught in set three started early with the Lions scoring nine of the first 10 points.
• Wilmington was never able to catch their footing. 
• Chelsea Ross ended the match with an emphatic kill to complete the sweep.
• The Lions hit .471 in set three while Wilmington hit below zero at -.091.

Lion Stat Leaders
• Chelsea Ross hit a team-high tying 11 kills on 15 swings with two errors and a .600 attack percentage. She also added seven blocks.
• Nylene Mateo also landed 11 kills.
• Amiyah Woods chipped in six kills.
• Giorgia Cappelletti had a nice night with five kills, five aces and 10 digs.
• Dayna Diaz passed out 29 assists with eight digs.
• Carmen Rivera led GCU with 12 digs.

For the Wildcats
• Eliza Schneider was in double-figures with 12 kills.
• Gabrielle Barth totaled nine digs.
• Claudia Melendez passed out 11 assists and Karalyn Osborne 10.

News and Notes
• The Lions .333 attack percentage is their highest in conference this season.
• Georgian Court has swept the season series from Wilmington for the first time since 2017.
• The eight points allowed in set three are the fewest GCU has allowed in a set this season. 
• Chelsea Ross reached 300 blocks, just the fifth Lion to ever achieve that. 

Up Next
• Georgian Court stays at home and goes out of conference to take on East Stroudsburg Thursday, Oct. 24 at 5 p.m.