DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. - The Daemen College women's volleyball team fell to 1-24 this season after dropping a four-set match (25-22, 18-25, 17-25, 23-25) to host Mercy College in an East Coast Conference matinee today at Mercy Gymnasium.  Daemen (1-11 in ECC play) was attempting to gain a sweep of the season series against the Mavericks, but Mercy forced a split for the second consecutive season.  The Mavericks picked up their first ECC win of the season (1-10), snapping a seven-match slide overall to improve to 5-19 this season.

Daemen got a strong performance from senior Lindsey Nowak (West Seneca, N.Y./Immaculata) who returned to the lineup after missing much of the Wildcats' match at the University of Bridgeport last Friday, before being held out completely the following day vs. Dowling College with an injury.  Nowak matched a career-high with 21 kills today, and came through with her highest attack percentage of the season (.485), but it wasn't enough to lead Daemen to a victory.

The Wildcats jumped out to a 14-6 lead in the opening set, getting four kills from Nowak and three from freshman Jakki Steck (Depew, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) in the early going.  Mercy cut the deficit to three (22-19), but that was followed by back-to-back points for Daemen - another Steck kill and then one by sophomore Amber Drzymala (West Seneca, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) - to put the Wildcats on the brink (24-19) of closing out the set.  Mercy responded with three straight points to pull within two (24-22) before Steck shut the door with her fifth kill of the set.

The first-set loss ignited the Mavericks as the hosts raced to leads to 12-3 and 16-4 in set number two.  Daemen managed to score six straight points, and eight of the next 10, to pull with six (18-12).  Drzymala accounted for three kills while freshman Paige Recore (Pennelville, N.Y./John C. Birdlebough) notched three service aces in the spurt.  But, the Wildcats would get no closer than five points in the remainder of the set as Mercy evened up the match with a seven-point win (25-18).

The pivotal third set was a back-and-forth affair.  With Daemen leading 8-7 on another Recore service ace, the Mavericks scored nine of the next 11 points to go ahead by six (16-10).  Daemen responded with a spurt of its own, getting a pair of Nowak kills, two more from junior Mackenzie Knihinicki (Lakeview, N.Y./Frontier) and a single kill from freshman Jenna Reeser (Amherst, N.Y./Sweet Home) as part of a 7-2 run to pull within one (18-17).  That's when the wheels came off as Mercy rattled off seven consecutive points to win the set, needing just one kill and one service ace to do so, as the Mavericks were aided by four Daemen attack errors.

The fourth set was hotly contested as well as the Wildcats tried desperately to even the match, seeking their second five-set match of the year.  Mercy led for the majority of the set, but never by more than three.  Daemen erased a two-point deficit (20-18) late in the game following back-to-back kills by Drzymala.  Mercy regrouped with three of the next four points to reestablish a two-point bulge (23-21), before Daemen would knot it up again at 23-all.  Mercy's Brenna White put down her match-best 26th kill on the ensuing point, and a Daemen attack error followed to close the set and the match.

Daemen had little answer for White who committed just eight errors in 45 attempts today (.400 attack percentage).  The 5-foot-10 senior leads the ECC in total kills (420) and kills per set (5.06) this season.  She also added 13 digs for her 14th double-double of the season.

White was backed up by McKenna Ronan (42 assists) and Destinee Simpson (10 kills).

Nowak, who recorded her 1,000th career kill earlier this month, led the way for Daemen in defeat, adding five digs and a pair of block assists to her career-best kill total.  Drzymala was next with 13 kills while Steck added six, and Knihinicki matched her season-high with five.  Freshman Katie McKrell (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) notched 40 assists in the match, her highest total since putting up 63 in a five-set loss to Kutztown University on Sept. 27.

With her team-leading seven digs today, Drzymala now sits just three shy of 500 for her career.

Mercy attacked at a .324 clip in the match and won the battle at the net, collecting 12 total blocks compared to just three for the Wildcats.

Daemen will regroup this week before hosting Queens College (Saturday, Nov. 1) and Molloy College (Sunday, Nov. 2) in their final home tilts of the year next weekend.  Both matches are slated for 11 a.m. starts with Sunday's match against the Lions serving as the Wildcats' Senior Day celebration.  Look for a full weekend preview to be posted at wildcats.daemen.edu by Friday, Oct. 31.