BROOKVILE, N.Y.- The Daemen College women's volleyball team bounced back from a loss yesterday to add another win to their ECC record by defeating Long Island University Post in five sets (15-25, 25-23, 25-21, 22-25, 15-12). This win places Daemen third in the conference standings with a record of 4-1 and back to .500 overall (9-9).
Amber and
Ashley Drzymala were pivotal for the Wildcats in todays win as they combined for 39 kills. Ashley (West Seneca, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) paced the team with 24 kills while her older sister Amber (West Seneca, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) put down 15 kills of her own.
Ye Wang (Beijing, China/Hachioji Jissen) was right behind Amber by adding 14 kills of her own. Ashley has posted double-figure kills in 12 of the last 13 matches, while adding another double-double to her resume with 18 digs on the day along with two aces.
Katie McKrell (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) continues to amaze by tallying 51 assists on the day. This marks the third time this season that the 5-foot-8 sophomore registered 50 or more assists.
The Pioneers were paced by Rachel Londot who registered a double-double of her own by tallying 11 kills and 13 digs. Giulia Genna led Post with 44 assists in today's ECC match up.
LIU led 5-0 early in the opening set, but Daemen was able to close the gap by one. Post was able to bounce back from the Wildcat spurt but putting up six straight points to turn a one point lead into a seven point run. The Pioneers would go on to close the set 25-15 by winning five straight points and ending it with a kill by Monica Amador.
The Wildcats would bounce back to even things out with a close victory of 25-23. Daemen was down due to a pair of kills from the Pioneers, but were able to even things up at 6-6. The Wildcat victory did not come easy due to the back-and-forth nature of the set. No team had a run of more than four points, but it was a Pioneer error that did the team in.
Ashley Drzymala registered six kills in this Wildcat win.
The third set was another back-and-fourth contest. The Pioneers gained and early lead but Daemen took advantage of Pioneer to even things up, again at 6-6, and held onto that lead for the rest of the set. Wang registered two of the final three points in the set to have the final say for the Wildcats.
Daemen registered the first point of the fourth set but the Pioneers bounced back to take the next four straight points and with that, gained another early lead. Another small spurt put the Pioneers up 5-10 early in the set. Daemen tried to close the gap by rallying a three point spurt of their own, but they were unable to come back from the initial lead the Pioneers earned. Post ended the set with a kill by Melissa Hanson to win the set 25-23.
A kill by
Courtney Bernard (Lancaster, Ohio/Fairfield Union) off the hands of McKrell put the Wildcats on the board first. Wildcats errors gave the Pioneers and early lead of 6-3 but back-to-back kills from Ashley Drzyamala closed the point gap by one. A four point spurt from the Wildcats tied the set at 11-11. Daemen went on to win four of the last five points to win the final set of the game 15-11.
Along with standing 4-1 in conference play, the Wildcats are also 4-1 in five-set matches this season. This is the fourth-straight five-set match the Wildcats have won this season. This road victory marks the first time the Wildcats won a five-set game on the road since November 1, 2011 against Buffalo State College.
The Wildcats continue ECC action on October 14 at 7:00 p.m. in Rochester, N.Y. against Roberts Wesleyan College.
