Top Seeds Hold Court in First Round of 2018 CACC Volleyball Championship on Tuesday Night

Top Seeds Hold Court in First Round of 2018 CACC Volleyball Championship on Tuesday Night

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (November 6, 2018) -- The top-two seeds in each division were victorious on Tuesday night during the first round of the 2018 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Volleyball Championship.

South No. 1 seed Holy Family University survived a scare against Felician University (North No. 4) via a 3-2 decision. North No. 1 Post University swept South No. 4 Wilmington University, 3-0, while defending champ and North No. 2 Caldwell University defeated South No. 3 Jefferson, 3-1, in a rematch of the last two conference championship finals. South No. 2 seed Georgian Court University clinched its second-straight appearance in the CACC semis with a 3-0 triumph over North No. 3 Nyack College.

All four teams will meet up in the CACC semis on Saturday at the Wellness Center on the GCU campus in Lakewood, N.J. Holy Family will face Caldwell in the day's first semifinal at 1 p.m., followed by Post taking on GCU at 3:30 p.m. The HFU-Caldwell semis will be a rematch of one of one of last year's semifinals, won by the Cougars on the way to capturing the 2017 championship. Post and GCU will be meeting in the conference playoffs for the second-consecutive year, as the two met in the first round in 2017.

Saturday's two semifinal winners will advance to Sunday's CACC Championship Final at 12 p.m., at the Wellness Center. The conference champion will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II East Region Tournament the following weekend at a site to be determined.

S#1 HOLY FAMILY 3, N#4 FELICIAN 2  /  Boxscore
The No. 1 overall seed Tigers shook off a 2-1 deficit by winning sets four and five to avoid the upset bid from the Golden Falcons. CACC Player of the Year, Chase Wassel, pounded out 27 kills, and logged a double-double with 15 digs. Jaime Bonner (12), Carly Covington (10) and Gianna Pesognelli (10) were the other three Tigers to post double-figure kills. Morgan Silks set up the offensive attack with 53 assists. Kahea Aea had 11 kills for Felician.

N#2 CALDWELL 3, S#3 JEFFERSON 1  /  Boxscore
Elise Smith hit .308 and produced 12 kills, as the Cougars shook off a set-one loss to win the next three to reach the semifinals. Katie Compagno and Demetria Gary each added seven kills in the triumph. Jordan Hoffman had 21 assists to aid in the offensive attack for the Cougars. Courtney Wensel led Jefferson with 11 kills in her final collegiate volleyball contest, as she also added five digs and a pair of service aces. Alexandra Harrington had 27 assists.

N#1 POST 3, S#4 WILMINGTON 0  /  Boxscore
Rylie Arms and Sarah Seger each sent home 11 kills to lead the Eagles to a three-set win over the Wildcats. Brianna Root helped set up those two totals with 33 assists, to go along with 13 digs. Madison Hunziker produced a team-high 17 digs for Post. Angel Oliver and Mandy Behiels led the Wildcats with eight kills apiece, and Jenna Brown had 23 digs.

S#2 GEORGIAN COURT 3, N#3 NYACK 0  /  Boxscore
Four Lions logged at least eight kills, including a team-best 10 from Amy Bruno, as she hit .417 for the match. Grace Fenn and Peggy Rosario each added nine. Kyra Zuhlke posted a match-high tying 10 kills for the Warriors.


ABOUT THE CACC
The Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference is an NCAA Division II Conference composed of 14 institutions in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. The member institutions are Bloomfield College, Caldwell University, Chestnut Hill College, Concordia (N.Y.) College, Dominican (N.Y.) College, Felician University, Georgian Court University, Goldey-Beacom College, Holy Family University, Jefferson (Philadelphia University + Thomas Jefferson University), Nyack College, Post University of Waterbury, University of the Sciences, and Wilmington University.