CALDWELL, N.J. – The Caldwell College volleyball team lost the first set before winning the next three to beat Philadelphia University in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference match Saturday afternoon in the George R. Newman Center. The Cougars, who won by the score of 19-25, 27-25, 25-14, 25-20, are now 13-9 overall and 6-2 in the conference. The Rams drop to 10-6, 6-3 CACC.

After losing the first set, Caldwell was in danger of going down 2-0, trailing 10-3 early in the second set. The Cougars came back to take the lead, but the Rams scored four of five points down the stretch to set up set point, 24-22. A Rams' service error and an attack error, sandwiched around a kill from freshman outside hitter Rachael DiLeonardo (Cincinnati, OH/Mt. Notre Dame), gave Caldwell set point. Following a Cougars' service error, kills by DiLeonardo and senior outside hitter Susan McDonough (Saline, MI/Saline) gave Caldwell a 27-25 win.

The close win swung momentum in favor of the Cougars, who cruised to a 25-14 victory in the third set. In the fourth set, Caldwell built a 15-4 lead and held on to clinch the match, 25-20. Junior right side Kate Blankerts (Sylvania, OH/Southview) put away six kills in the final set.

DiLeonardo paced Caldwell with 15 kills to go with 18 digs. McDonough registered 12 kills and 18 digs, while freshman middle blocker Kelsey Blankerts (Sylvania, OH/Southview) had a career-best 10 kills. Junior setter Lisa Roth (Gilbert, AZ/Williams Field) delivered 48 assists to go with 12 digs. Defensively, sophomore Jaclyn Del Cid (Bogota, NJ/Bogota) had a match-high 23 digs and senior Maddy Amon (Louisville, KY/Bishop Moore) notched 16 digs. Terra Ecker totaled 14 kills to lead the Rams.

Next up for Caldwell is a CACC contest against Felician College on Tuesday, Oct. 9. The match starts at 7:00 p.m. in the George R. Newman Center.

CC (3) - 19 27 25 25
PU (1) - 25 25 14 20