WINONA LAKE, Ind. - The Daemen College volleyball team opened their 2011 season today with a split against two highly touted opponents at the Ramada Plaza Tournament hosted by Grace College.  In their first match of the season, the Wildcats fell in four sets (15-25, 25-23, 23-25, 19-25) to #12 Doane College (NE).  The Wildcats struck back with a four-set win (25-14, 21-25, 25-10, 25-19) of their own over Shawnee State University (OH) who was listed as "receiving votes" for the NAIA Top 25 Pre-Season Poll.

"It feels good to get a split today against two very good teams," said Daemen Head Coach Mark Parisi.  "The match vs. Doane was a great one.  We gave them all they could handle after we shook off some jitters at the start of the match.  Against Shawnee, we put together a great team effort to come away with the win."

Sophomore Jenn Karan (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park HS) led the way, offensively, in both matches with a team-high 12 kills vs. Doane before adding 10 more in the win vs. Shawnee State.

In the loss, Daemen was able to frustrate the Tigers a bit because of their stout defense, led by juniors Katie Auge (Salamanca, NY/Salamanca HS) and Joanna Fretthold (North Tonawanda, NY/North Tonawanda HS) who tallied 14 and 8 digs, respecitvely.

Ye Wang (Beijing, China/Hachioji Jissen HS) put forth a good effort at the net with seven kills and six blocks.

Setters Kaley Vazquez (Kenmore, NY/Kenmore West HS) and Kimmie Mack (Livonia, NY/Livonia HS) each reached double figures in assists vs. Doane with 20 and 10, respectively.

After Karan's offensive output vs. Shawnee State, freshman Lindsey Nowak (West Seneca, NY/Immaculata Acad.) came through with eight kills while Wang was strong at the net again with five kills and 10 blocks.

Vazquez added a team-best 17 assists.  Auge and Fretthold did the job again defensively as they combined for 21 digs.

The Wildcats are back in action Friday for day two of the tournament.  They'll face Bethel College (IN) at 9am and their second opponent of the day will be based on outcomes of their game and others.