SPORTS

Senior Sydney Champaign for the serve. [photo from last season]

DAVIDSON, N.C. — The Davidson Wildcats used all 12 active players to fight and earn a 3-2 victory over VCU this evening, defeating the Rams for just the second time in program history and the first time since 1994.

“We dealt with a lot of chaos today,” said Head Coach Chris Willis. “But we always talk about how we reduce chaos, and that’s through communication and confidence. Our women did a great job of that today and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

The ‘Cats were solid all across the floor today, as freshman Bella Brady recorded a match-high 30 digs, Sydney Champaigne and Jessie Doyal combined for 53 assists and Remi Lehnertz notched 18 kills. Brady, Doyal and Lehnertz all reached new career-highs tonight, while Lehnertz recorded her second double-double in as many days, as the senior added 19 digs to the scoresheet. Doyal, the rookie out of Peachtree City, Georgia, also collected a new career-high in digs, with 16.

Davidson jumped out of the gates in set one and commanded the game’s momentum for the entirety of the first two sets. Between a .235 attack percentage in the first, and a season-best .324 percentage in the second, the Wildcats pulled out 25-19 and 25-20 set victories. With a combined four blocks during the first two sets, Davidson had an answer for every VCU attack.

While the Rams took sets three and four, 25-22 and 25-19, Davidson battled to pick up 25 kills along the way and save its best efforts for the final set of the day.

At the net, Davidson’s blocking efforts would ultimately seal the deal to victory. After falling behind 7-5 early in the fifth, the ‘Cats took a timeout, only to bounce back and settle the score at 8 points apiece. From there, steady serving from Doyal and a monstrous block from Malia Kay and Lauryn Albold allowed Davidson to take the largest lead of the set, up 10-8. After a VCU timeout, the Rams earned the serve back, however, the Wildcats quickly regained control with another double block from Julia Black and Albold. With a 12-10 lead and victory in sight, Albold and Black combined for one more shutdown at the net, before Kay and Sola Omonije rattled off back-to-back kills to clinch the match.

With the win, Davidson improves to 2-5 on the year and snagged its first conference victory.

The Wildcats will be back in action on Friday night to take on the Dayton Flyers in Ohio.