Box Score

AMHERST, N.Y. - The Daemen College women's volleyball team ran into the buzzsaw known as the University of Bridgeport today, falling in three sets (22-25, 26-28, 17-25) to the defending East Coast Conference regular season and tournament champions in a matinee matchup at Lumsden Gymnasium.  With the loss, Daemen drops to 0-12 on the season, including 0-3 in ECC play, while the Purple Knights up their marks to 8-1 overall and 3-0 in the league.

Daemen seemed the catch Bridgeport napping early on, building a five-point lead to open the first set (9-4), before the Purple Knights woke up.  Bridgeport rattled off seven of the next nine points to draw even at 11-apiece.  

Daemen persevered and built a 16-13 edge after a kill from freshman Jakki Steck (Depew, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster).  But, Bridgeport scored six straight, five of which came during the serve rotation of Martina Santia to go ahead 19-16.  

Daemen drew within one (19-18) after a pair of Purple Knight miscues, but a kill by Bridgeport's Frida Randen prevented the Wildcats from tying things up.  Daemen would get within one again at 23-22 ater another Bridgeport attack error, but the visitors got consecutive kills from Ying Shen and Amanda Kunrath to close out the set.

The second set saw Daemen battle back from a 15-7 deficit to push Bridgeport into extra points.  Daemen cut the lead to four on three occasions, the last of which came on a kill by freshman Jenna Reeser (Amherst, N.Y./Sweet Home) to make the score 18-14.  

After Bridgeport momentarily went back ahead by five, Daemen registered five straight points to pull even at 19-all.  A pair of kills from sophomore Adrianna Patzer (Liverpool, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse) sparked the run.

A couple of Daemen errors aided Bridgeport's run to go back ahead by three (22-19), but Daemen scored the next four to grab their first lead (23-22) of the set.  Sophomore Amber Drzymala (West Seneca, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) put down two straight kills in the spurt, sandwiched between a kill by freshman Rachel Stephenson (Hamburg, N.Y./Frontier) and a service ace from senior Chelsea Turcer (Alexander, N.Y./Alexander Central).

Bridgeport battled back and had two chances to close the set thwarted by Daemen.  A Drzymala service ace put Daemen ahed 26-25 with a chance to win the set, but Bridgeport rallied for three straight points to finally close it out.  Biljana Savic contributed two clutch kills in the run.

The long second set and the anguish of playing the defending conference champs tight for two-plus sets seemed to take its toll on Daemen in the third.  Tied at 9-9, Bridgeport scored 11 of the next 12 points behind the strong service of Giovana Soares and Santia, establishing an insurmountable 10-point edge (20-10).  Daemen would get no closer than seven the rest of the set as Bridgeport cruised to their match-clinching third-set win.

Savic led a balanced Purple Knight attack with eight kills.  Larissa Oliveira notched six while Randen, Kunrath and Shen had five apiece.  Savic added a match-high 21 assists while Michele Santos contributed 13 digs to the Bridgeport cause.

Drzymala recorded a double-double (match-high 10 kills, 12 digs) for Daemen who also got 11 assists from sophomore Ryanne Dugan (Forestville, N.Y./Forestville).  Reeser was next offensively with eight kills while senior Lindsey Nowak (West Seneca, N.Y./Immaculata) added six.  Turcer threw in 10 digs as well for the Wildcats.

Daemen is back in action next Saturday (Sept. 27) when the'll partake in a tri-match at Lock Haven University.  There, Daemen will face the host Lock Haven Bald Eagles, as well as Kutztown University - both of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.  The Wildcats return to ECC play the following day (Sunday, Sept. 28) when they host Mercy College for a 10:30 a.m. start at Lumsden Gymnasium.