Daemen University Athletics

AMHERST, N.Y. – The entire Daemen College women’s volleyball team and men’s basketball standout Supreme Hannah (Rochester, N.Y./Eastridge) have been named the College’s Student-Athletes of the Month presented by Western New York Knee and Orthopedic Surgery PC for November 2016.

It was a historic month for the volleyball team, as it capped off the regular-season as East Coast Conference (ECC) champions and went on to become the first program from Daemen to earn a bid to a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship event. In addition, the program earned its first-ever No. 1 ranking in the NCAA regional rankings.

The Wildcats entered the month riding an 11-game winning streak, and ran the streak to 14-straight by closing out the regular-season with wins over long-time conference power University of Bridgeport, long-time rival Roberts Wesleyan College and Mercy College. Daemen closed out the regular-season with a 22-6 overall record and a 13-1 mark in the ECC—earning the Wildcats the ECC regular-season championship and the No. 1 seed in the ECC Championship Tournament.

A 3-1 victory over LIU Post in the semifinals of the ECC Tournament extended the winning streak to 15-straight games and set up a match with defending NCAA regional champion New York Institute of Technology for the tournament championship and an automatic bid the NCAA Division II Tournament. A hard-fought loss to the Bears denied Daemen the conference tournament title, but would not be the end of this memorable season.

Two days later the Wildcats received an at-large bid the NCAA Division II Tournament—marking the first time a Daemen program has been selected to participate in a NCAA Championship since Daemen gained full NCAA Division II status prior to the 2015-16 school year. In addition, Daemen was selected to serve as host of the eight-team East regional. The Wildcats advanced to the regional championship game following wins over Post University and the University of New Haven, but suffered a 3-2 loss to American International College in the regional title game.

The team’s success led to several individuals and head coach Stephanie Albano collecting numerous honors. Albano was named ECC Coach of the Year and the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) East Region Coach of the Year. Sophomore Ashley Drzymala (West Seneca, N.Y./St. Mary’s of Lancaster) was named ECC Player of the Year, as well as first-team All-ECC and first-team all-region. Freshman Bailey Dolegowski (Marilla, N.Y./St. Mary’s of Lancaster) was named ECC Co-Rookie of the Year, AVCA East Region Freshman of the Year, second-team all-conference and honorable mention all-region. Senior Amber Drzymala (West Seneca, N.Y./St. Mary’s of Lancaster) was named first-team all-conference and first-team all-region.

The volleyball team won 17 of its final 19 games and closed out the season with a 25-8 record. It marked the ninth time in the last 18 seasons that the Wildcats have posted 25 or more wins in a season.

Hannah led the men’s basketball team to a 5-2 record during the month of November. A red-shirt senior guard who missed all but four games last year due to injury, he opened the month by being named Most Valuable Player following the season-opening ECC-CACC Challenge presented by Western New York Knee and Orthopedic Surgery PC. He scored 14 points and dished a team-high four assists in a season-opening win over Caldwell University—Daemen’s 15th consecutive win in a season opener. He followed that with a 21-point, four-assist outing in an 11-point dispatching of Dominican College, while logging a game-high 37 minutes. The output marked the third 20-point game of his career.

Additional highlights of the month included a 13-point, five-rebound, eight-assist and three steal effort in a win at Edinboro University and a 16-point, seven-rebound effort in a win over Slippery Rock University. He also netted 15 points and grabbed six rebounds in a loss to Mercyhurst University.

Hannah drilled 11 three-pointers and averaged 13.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists over the seven games last month. He has made 36 consecutive starts in games that he's appeared in, dating back to the 2014-15 season.

Daemen (5-3, 0-2 ECC) returns to action this weekend when it travels to the University of Bridgeport for an ECC games.