Freshman setter Bailey Dolegowski has helped Daemen to a No. 1 ranking in the East Region this season

Women's Volleyball 11/16/2016 4:47:00 PM Mike Miranto, Associate A.D. For Communications

Daemen Remains Atop East Region Rankings Heading Into Conference Tourney

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL NCAA DIVISION II EAST REGION RANKINGS - NOV. 16, 2016
Rank	School	Conference	Overall Record
1	DAEMEN	ECC	22-6
2	NYIT	ECC	26-5
3	American International	NE-10	24-5
4	Post	CACC	25-4
5	New Haven	NE-10	16-8
6	Le Moyne	NE-10	22-5
7	Philadelphia	CACC	26-4
8	Pace	NE-10	22-8
9	Adelphi	NE-10	18-11
10	Bridgeport	ECC	14-12

AMHERST, N.Y. - For the second straight week and on the strength of 14 consecutive wins, the Daemen College women's volleyball team remained No. 1 in the third and final NCAA Division II East Region poll of the 2016 season which was released this afternoon. The East Region of NCAA Division II is comprised of teams from the East Coast Conference, Northeast-10 Conference and Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, and the regional rankings are used to determine at-large bids to the East Regional portion of the NCAA Tournament following the respective conference tournaments.

Behind Daemen, poll positions two through six also remained the same from last week, led by No. 2 N.Y. Institute of Technology and their region-best 26 wins. Philadelphia University, which also boasts 26 wins this season, and Pace University each moved up one space each to seventh and eighth, respectively. Adelphi University dropped two spots to No. 9 while the four-time defending ECC champion University of Bridgeport made its season debut in the poll at No. 10.

Daemen sits at 22-6 overall this season, having not dropped a match since October 1. Their 13-1 mark in ECC play has the Wildcats on top of the league standings with the program's first-ever ECC regular season championship in tow. Daemen wrapped up the outright league title with a 3-1 win on the road last Thursday (Nov. 10) vs. Roberts Wesleyan College, and closed out the regular season Sunday (Nov. 13) by defeating Mercy College in four sets at home.

In the championship-clinching win at RWC, sophomore outside hitter Ashley Drzymala (West Seneca, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) paced the Wildcats with 14 kills and 12 digs. Against Mercy, it was her older sister, senior Amber Drzymala (West Seneca, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) who led the way, posting 19 kills and 18 digs. With her final kill in the match, the elder Drzymala reached 1,000 for her career, making her just the third player in team history to surpass 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs. For her efforts, Amber Drzymala earned ECC Player of the Week honors for the second time this season.

The Wildcats, who have won six straight matches at Lumsden Gymnasium, will host the ECC Tournament later this week (Nov. 18-19), with the tourney winner collecting the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. Top-seeded Daemen faces fourth-seeded Long Island University Post in the first semifinal on Friday (5 p.m.), while the second semifinal features second-seeded NYIT and third-seeded Bridgeport (7:30 p.m.).

Ashley Drzymala leads Daemen and ranks second in the ECC with 363 kills this season. She also ranks among the league's leaders in kills per set (3.46 - third), total attacks (883 - fifth), hitting percentage (.238 - 12th), service aces (47 - second), service aces per set (0.45 - third) and digs (274 - 13th).

Amber Drzymala ranks fifth in the league in total kills (331) and tenth in total digs (312) making her one of just three players to rank in the top 10 of both categories.

Additional offensive production this season has come from freshman setter Bailey Dolegowski (Marilla, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) and Division I transfer Courtney Scanlan (Ellicotville, N.Y./Stony Brook University). Dolegowski leads the league in total assists (972) while Scanlan has totaled 200 kills.

Defensively, in addition to the Drzymala's, it's been sophomore Kailey Ballou (Eden, N.Y./Eden) stepping up of late, totaling 273 digs this season and posting 13 matches with at least 10 digs since Oct. 1. Also, her sister, freshman Meghan Ballou (Eden, N.Y./Eden) has posted a team-best 42 blocks with classmate Cristina Apostol (Bucharest, Romania/Targu Mures) chipping with 37.

Daemen is 4-2 this season against teams ranked in the poll this week. The Wildcats have defeated No. 2 NYIT, No. 7 Philadelphia and No. 10 Bridgeport (twice) this season, while the losses came at No. 6 Le Moyne College and in their first meeting with NYIT. Daemen overtook the top spot last week from the defending East Region champions NYIT which debuted at No. 1 in the poll released on Nov. 2.

The Wildcats' current 14-game win streak is the team's first double-figure win streak since rattling off 15 straight during the 2013 season. The streak is currently the seventh-longest streak in the country among NCAA Division II teams. Nationally, Daemen ranks 22nd in team service aces (199) and 17th in aces per set (1.91) out of a total 292 Division II teams. The Wildcats' .216 hitting percentage is good for a 61st ranking, and they're allowing just a .156 hitting percentage to their opponents which is also ranked 61st.

For breaking news and continuing coverage of the Daemen women's volleyball team, follow @DaemenAthletics and @DaemenVB on Twitter.

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Players Mentioned

#1 Kailey Ballou: L; 5' 7"; Sophomore

#13 Amber Drzymala: OH; 5' 9"; Senior

#10 Ashley Drzymala: OH; 5' 10"; Sophomore

#7 Courtney Scanlan: OH; 6' 1"; Redshirt Sophomore

#14 Bailey Dolegowski: S; 5' 8"; Freshman

#2 Meghan Ballou: OH; 6' 0"; Freshman

#15 Cristina Apostol: MB; 6' 2"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#1 Kailey Ballou
: 5' 7"; Sophomore
: L

#13 Amber Drzymala
: 5' 9"; Senior
: OH

#10 Ashley Drzymala
: 5' 10"; Sophomore
: OH

#7 Courtney Scanlan
: 6' 1"; Redshirt Sophomore
: OH

#14 Bailey Dolegowski
: 5' 8"; Freshman
: S

#2 Meghan Ballou
: 6' 0"; Freshman
: OH

#15 Cristina Apostol
: 6' 2"; Freshman
: MB