PHILADELPHIA – The Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) southern division champion Philadelphia University women's volleyball team came from two sets down to fend off a tough challenge from northern division fourth seed Dominican (N.Y.) and advance to the CACC Tournament semifinal with a 25-13, 20-25, 24-26, 25-19, 15-4 win Tuesday night in the Gallagher Center.

Philadelphia, now a winner in 19 of its last 21 matches, improves to 21-6 overall and will take on northern division runner-up Bloomfield—a 3-0 winner over Georgian Court—in the semis on Friday, Nov. 20 at 3:30 p.m. at Georgian Court. The Rams have won the last 14 meetings against the Bears, including a 3-1 win on Oct. 17 in The Gym.

Courtney Wensel (Bechtelsville, Pa./Berks Catholic) tied her career-high with 20 kills and 12 digs to lead the Rams. She has a double-double in four straight matches and 11 this season.

Chelsea Hughes (Wading River, N.Y./Shoreham-Wading River) racked up 19 kills, seven digs, and five block assists. Corinne Justus (Allentown, Pa./Emmaus) had 10 kills.

Nina Morvin (Willow Grove, Pa./Saint Basil Academy) had a career-best 55 assists, while Allison Manley (Saint Charles, Ill./Saint Charles East) posted a match-high 17 digs.

The Rams were dominant in the opening set, hitting .536, to take a 1-0 match lead. Hughes helped the Rams get off to a fast start with a pair of kills in a 5-0 run to start the set. Later in the set, Hughes recorded an ace to spark a 6-0 spurt to push the advantage to 13-2. The lead reached 14 points (23-9) after another Hughes kill capped a run of six straight points.

Philadelphia owned the early lead in set two, but Dominican (6-26) rattled off five straight points, finished off by an Ashley Joyner kill, to take an 8-5 advantage. After a Wensel kill stopped the run, Dominican responded with three points in a row to extend the lead to 11-6 on an Amanda Hallstein kill. The Chargers had a pair of seven-point leads (16-9, 17-10) in the set.

The third set was by far the closest, featured 12 ties and six lead changes. With the set tied at 23, Hallstein came the Chargers a chance to take the lead with a kill. After the teams traded service errors, Dominican took a 2-1 match lead on an attack error. Dominican hit .250 in the set, while Philadelphia had a hitting percentage of .171.

The Rams started to regain their stride in the fourth, going on a 10-1 run to get out to a 10-2 lead. After the Chargers closed the gap to four, a Hughes kill started 7-2 run that gave the Rams a set-high 21-12 advantage. Dominican got as close as 23-19, but Wensel closed out the set with back-to-back kills.

The final set was all Philadelphia as the Rams scored the first eight points and never looked back. Wensel recorded three of her match-high five aces during the run. The Rams forced the Chargers to hit -.364 in the set.

Joyner led the Chargers with 15 kills and five block assists. Hallstein finished the match with 29 assists, 11 digs, and eight kills.