AMHERST, NY - Freshman Natalie Meyer (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park HS) and sophomore Kaitlin Watchey (Jamestown, NY/Jamestown HS) picked an opportune time to play their finest match of the season as the Daemen duo of middle blockers combined for 19 kills and 10 blocks to lead Daemen to their elusive 20th win of the season, snapping a two-match losing skid and sending the rival Roberts Wesleyan Raiders home with a 3-1 defeat (21-25, 25-11, 25-16, 25-18).  Daemen improves to 20-8, 3-1 on the season and notches their first 20+ win season since 2004.  Roberts Wesleyan drops to 13-7, 1-3.

"It's nice to get that win under our belt," said seventh-year head coach Mark Parisi.  "We wanted to get our confidence back and play the way we've been playing all year up until this rough patch we've been experiencing."

The veteran sideline mentor went on to applaud the play of his middle blockers, saying, "I think Nat and Kaitlin had 10 swings combined on Saturday (loss to Point Park).  It was great to see them get some opportunities and they really came up big for us tonight."

Meyer was all over the front of the net for Daemen the entire match as she recorded a career-high 10 kills.  Meanwhile, the team didn't miss a beat when Meyer stepped out on her back row rotation because in came Watchey, a 2nd Team All-Conference pick from a season ago.  Watchey's nine kills were a season-high and the most she's put down since she had 10 last October 30 vs. King's.

Daemen dropped the first set 25-21 as they never fully recoverd from a 6-0 hole they dug themselves to start the match.  After finding themselves down 11-4 in the set, they started to gain their rhythm and it carried over to the next set where they rattled off 12 of the first 13 points in the set to take a commanding lead.  

In the all-important third set, with the match tied at 1-1, Daemen rallied late, scoring 13 of the set's last 16 points after trailing 13-12.

Daemen setters Kaley Vazquez (Kenmore, NY/Kenmore West HS) and Kimmie Mack (Livonia, NY/Livonia HS) combined for 29 assists on the night while junior libero Katie Auge (Salamanca, NY/Salamanca HS) had a team-best 23 digs.

Junior Joanna Fretthold (North Tonawanda, NY/North Tonawanda HS) had a fine all-around performance with seven kills, four service aces, two blocks, 19 digs and 25 serve receptions without an error.  Senior Rachael Bowler (Tonawanda, NY/Kenmore West HS) also had seven kills in the match.

Daemen returns to the court this Saturday when they face AMC front-runner Walsh at 12pm in North Canton, OH.  The Cavaliers have twice knocked off Daemen already this season in non-conference match-ups.