WINONA LAKE, IN - The Daemen College volleyball team swept two games today to take third place at the Ramada Plaza Tournament hosted by Grace College at their Orthopaedic Capital Center, first topping Bethel College (IN) in a thrilling five-set match (20-25, 25-21, 24-26, 25-16, 15-12) to close out pool play, before besting the host Lancers in four sets (25-23, 25-18, 19-25, 25-13) to take the third-place consolation match.  The wins today pushes Daemen's record to 3-1 on the young season while the win over Grace was the team's second in as many days against an opponent who received votes for the top 25 in the pre-season version of the Tachikara-NAIA National Poll.  Indiana University-East topped Indiana University-Southeast to take the tournament crown.

For their efforts, Daemen junior Joanna Fretthold (North Tonawanda, NY/North Tonawanda HS) and freshman Ye Wang (Beijing, China/Hachioji Jissen HS) were named to the All-Tournament Team.  Fretthold pounded down a team-high 16 kills in the morning match vs. Bethel, including an emphatic kill to end the match in the fifth set.  She also came through with 11 kills and a team-best 21 digs in the third-place match.  Meanwhile, Wang continued to impress in her inaugural collegiate tournament as she put home a combined 25 kills, including 14 in the pivotal match vs. Grace, along with 14 blocks.

"Ye was on fire in the match against Grace," said an excited Daemen Head Coach Mark Parisi.  "All-in-all we're pretty pleased with taking three out of four over here.  This is a quality tournament with plenty of quality teams so for us to finish third is definitely a step in the right direction."

In the win over Bethel, junior captain Katie Auge (Salamanca, NY/Salamanca HS) had as much to do with the outcome as the attackers as she controlled the tempo and led the Daemen defense from her Libero position.  Auge finished the match with 25 digs as well as 36 serve receptions without an error.  She added 17 more digs later vs. Grace.

"Auge's play allows us to have superior ball control," Parisi said. "She starts the offense with her serve receptions and gives our setters good chances to set up scoring plays."

Setters Kaley Vazquez (Kenmore, NY/Kenmore West HS) and Kimmie Mack (Livonia, NY/Livonia HS) each topped the 20-assist mark, with 22 and 21, respectively, in the day's opener, before combining for 39 more assists in the win vs. Grace.

Not to be overshadowed was the effort of 5'11" sophomore Jenn Karan (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park HS) who had 12 kills and a career-high 16 digs vs. Bethel.  She also added 13 kills and nine digs against Grace.

After a long bus ride back to campus tonight, the Wildcats will experience a short turn-around time as they host Cornerstone University (MI) at 11am on Saturday.