DOYLESTOWN (Pa.) – The Delaware Valley University volleyball team battled Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom foe King's College through five sets in the 2022 home opener and came out on top in a thrilling five-set victory.
The Aggies dropped a close first set, 25-20, took the second set 25-16 and then dropped the third set by the same margin. The team battled back in the fourth set to take a 25-23 win and force a fifth and deciding set which they rallied through for a 15-12 triumph.
DelVal improved to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in conference play while the Monarchs fell to 1-2 and 0-1.
Senior Caitlin Nemil and junior Olivia Deffendall led the charge offensively for the Aggies. Nemil finished with a career-high 45 assists, surpassing her previous top-mark of 41, while Deffendall also notched a career-best with 21 kills in the match and just five errors. Nemil added three kills, 16 digs and one service ace while not committing any errors and Deffendall tacked on 14 digs and an ace.
Junior Grace Kane played four sets before being sidelined with an injury, but still contributed 11 kills, 13 digs and two aces while first-year Grace Wilson recorded a team-high 24 digs.
As a team, DelVal finished with 58 kills to the Monarchs' 41 kills.
Kathy Shepherd led King's with 11 kills and Keely Hoban dished out 27 assists while Morgan Bryant scored on five service aces and pitched in two kills with 13 digs.
In the final set, the Aggies fell into a 4-1 hole but battled back to make it 5-5 thanks to kills from Deffendall and Victoria Tucker. The set went back-and-forth the entire way and was knotted again at 11-11 with King's holding serve. Nemil set up Deffendall and Schneider for consecutive kills to give DelVal a 13-11 lead, but King's got the next point on a kill from Shepherd to cut it back to one. After an error from the Monarchs gave the Aggies match point, the duo of Nemil and Deffendall connected one last time to secure the victory and send the home crowd into a frenzy.
The win was the first conference victory and home win for head coach Rachel Menin and her staff. It also marked the program's first win over King's since 2013.
The Aggies will play a non-conference match at Penn College on Saturday at 1 p.m. before returning home for another conference showdown with Lycoming College on Tuesday, September 13 at 7 p.m.
