CHARLESTON, S.C. – Senior Maddie Hills (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) tallied a match-high 15 kills to lead the College of Charleston volleyball team to a straight set sweep of Delaware Friday night in TD Arena.
 
The College of Charleston (14-7, 7-2 CAA) won the match by scores of 25-18, 25-17 and 25-23, and with the win, moves into a tie for first in the Colonial Athletic Association after Northeastern (17-6, 7-2 CAA) fell to James Madison Thursday evening. The Cougars hit .262 for the match – including a .387 clip in the second set – while holding Delaware (8-14, 2-7 CAA) to 33 kills and a .165 hitting percentage.
 
Hills led the way with 15 kills and an even .500 hitting percentage, while Devon Rachel (Louisville, Ky.) posted her 10^th double-double of the season with 10 kills and 14 digs. Allison Beckman (Apex, N.C.) and McKala Rhodes (Charleston, S.C.) recorded match-highs of 41 assists and 19 digs, respectively, as Riana Brennan (Los Gatos, Calif.) tallied nine kills and 13 digs to finish one smash shy of a double-double.
 
Autumn Jenkins paced the Blue Hen attack with 12 kills, while Erin Layne posted a double-double with 27 asissts and 13 digs. Taylor Hollingsworth finished the night with 15 digs.
 
The Cougars began to pull away with a 5-0 run in the first set, and took an early 10-4 lead following a smash from Hills. Charleston would open a comfortable 22-13 advantage later in the set with a Brennan kill, which capped a 7-3 spurt. After the Blue Hens fought off four straight set points, Brennan finished the frame with a smash to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
Charleston carried the momentum into the second, opening the frame with an 11-6 run before pushing the margin to 14-7 on an easy kill from Jane Feddersen (Leesburg, Va.). The Cougars would close out the set from there, answering back-to-back Delaware points with an 11-10 stretch to take a 2-0 advantage in the match on a kill from Kennedy Madison (Evansville, Ind.).
 
Delaware fought back early in the third with a 6-5 spurt to open the set, and forced an early timeout from the Cougars after back-to-back Charleston errors gave the Blue Hens a 10-8 advantage. Four of the next six points would fall for the Blue Hens, as Delaware took its largest lead of the night at 14-10 to prompt another timeout by the Cougars.
 
The Cougars came out of the break with a 5-1 spurt, which evened the tally at 15-15 and forced the Blue Hens to burn a timeout. Delaware would answer with a 7-4 spurt to take a 22-19 advantage. The Cougars refused to give in, countering with six of the next seven points to bounce back and close out the match in three sets on an emphatic stuff block by Madison and Feddersen.
 
Charleston returns will complete the two-match home stand on Sunday when the Cougars host Towson in a crucial conference battle at 1:00 pm in TD Arena.
 
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