LAKEWOOD, NJ (Nov. 19, 2024) - Georgian Court Volleyball is going back to the CACC semifinals. The Lions advanced out of the semifinal round defeating Felician 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-17). The No. 4 seed in the CACC North Division Felician gave the top seeded Lions a tough battle despite the score. They made the Lions work for it and they earned the win and opportunity to move on.

How it Happened
• The Lions hit .261 for the match with 39 kills and just 15 errors.
• Overall the match featured 12 ties and four lead changes, most of that coming in the first set.
• Defensive numbers were relatively even. Georgian Court put down two more blocks, 8-6 and picked up four more digs, 38-34.
• Felician gave away some key points on the service line. They hit 10 errors in three sets to four aces. GCU landed six aces but also hit six errors.
Set 1
• Neither team led by more than two early on in set one until GCU scored three straight to get on top 14-10.
• The Golden Falcons though hung on and never let the Lions pull away.
• Felician never tied the set back up, but did get to within one on a number of occasions.
• With the Lions leading 21-20 following two Felician points, the Golden Falcons hit one of their 10 service errors to give the Lions a two-point lead again.
• The teams traded points the rest of the way and leading by one again, a block from Chelsea Ross and Emma Gildea gave GCU a 25-23 set one win.
Set 2
• The second set was close by the end, but it didn't start out that way.
• Georgian Court jumped out to an early 7-2 lead and looked like they might cruise to a set two win.
• It was anything but as Felician rallied to score six straight and took an 8-7 lead of their own.
• A 4-0 run for the Lions highlighted by two Giorgia Cappelletti kills and an Iciar Zayas service ace, seemed to give the Lions some breathing room at 17-12.
• But Felician again responded, this time with an 8-3 run and scoring four straight to tie at 20-20.
• Amiyah Woods ended the rally with a kill. That was followed up by a kill from Cappelletti and Nylene Mateo service ace.
• Cappelletti finished off the set with another kill and GCU was out in front 2-0.
Set 3
• Georgian Court scored the first five points in the third set and never looked back. Chelsea Ross had two kills during the hot start along with two Golden Falcon attack errors.
• The Lions continued to pour it on and leading 14-10, scored six straight to get ahead 20-10. Mateo landed three more kills during the scoring stretch.
• GCU was two points away from a sweep but again, Felician didn't go down easy.
• They scored five straight to get to within six, 23-17 and force GCU to use a timeout.
• A Mateo kill and Golden Falcon attack errors finally put the match to bed, 25-17 Lions.

Lion Stat Leaders
• Chelsea Ross hit .800 with eight kills on 10 attempts with no errors. She also totaled four blocks.
• Nylene Mateo had a 12-kill, 10-dig double-double with four blocks of her own.
• Giorgia Cappelletti hit 10 kills with a team-high 14 digs.
• The setters, Iciar Zayas and Dayna Diaz each scored two service aces. Zayas dished out 17 assists and Diaz 14.
• Amiyah Woods and Martina Croce each landed four kills.

For the Golden Falcons
• Megan Barker scored a team-high 10 kills with five digs.
• Rowan Jensen hit nine kills.
• Aly Reeser picked up a game-high 18 digs.

News and Notes
• Prior to the game, Nylene Mateo (First Team), Chelsea Ross (Second Team) and Giorgia Cappelletti (Third Team) were all named to the All-CACC Team. They showed up big for GCU tonight scoring 35.5 of the team's 53 offensive points (kills, aces, blocks). 
• This will be the Lions first trip back to the CACC Tournament semifinals since the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season (played Spring, 2021).
• GCU improves to 13-5 in CACC Tournament quarterfinal round games in the NCAA era and 26-11 in CACC Tournament games.
• Georgian Court is now 2-0 all-time against Felician in the post season and 27-0 in the all-time series.
• Amiyah Woods entered the Lions all-time top-10 for career blocks.
• Chelsea Ross played in her 100th career match.
• Dayna Diaz surpassed 900 career assists, the 10th ever Lion to reach that figure.
• The Lions have now won a season-best six straight games. That's the longest winning streak for GCU since starting the 2021 season 9-0.

Up Next
• The Lions are the designated tournament hosts for the semifinals and finals. Their semifinal round opponent is a familiar one, in fact they were just here a week ago. No. 3 seed in the South Jefferson won their quarterfinal round game against No. 2 North seed Bridgeport, that means the Lions and Rams will meet for the second time in a week Saturday, Nov. 23 at 12 p.m. The other semifinal round game see No. 1 North seed Post against No. 3 seed North Dominican following GCU and Jefferson.