DEARBORN, MI - Daemen improved to 6-3 on the season today after taking a split in their matches as part of the Michigan-Dearborn Early Bird Classic, capturing third place at the multi-team event in the process.  The Wildcats opened their day with a straight set loss (15-25, 17-25, 26-28) to powerful Indiana University-East who is currently the highest receiving vote-getter outside the Top 25 in the Tachikara-NAIA National Poll.  That loss did not stop Daemen from notching a four-set win over Northwestern Ohio (26-24, 19-25, 25-21, 26-24) and clinching their third place finish with a 3-1 record at the event.

"Overall, we put together another good weekend," said head coach Mark Parisi.  "We ran into a tough opponent in IU-East this morning.  We failed to play with the ball control that we've had in most matches and I thought we really allowed them to dictate the play.  But, we showed some character with the ability to rebound against a quality opponent like Northwestern Ohio."

After getting off to a slow start that saw them in a quick 0-2 hole against IU-East, Daemen rallied and pushed the favored Red Wolves to the brink in the third set; the Wildcats had two chances to win the set but just couldn't put the ball down.  Parisi was happy, however, with how hois squad picked up their level of play despite the deficit.

"Hopefully we can use that match as a learning experience.  We need to play with more confidence against some of these highly ranked teams," he said.

Junior Joanna Fretthold (North Tonawanda, NY/North Tonawanda High School) paced the Wildcat attack with nine kills.  Sophomore Jenn Karan (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park High School) added seven kills.

Kaley Vazquez (Kenmore, NY/Kenmore West High School) contributed 19 assists while fellow setter Kimmie Mack (Livonia, NY/Livonia High School) had 10 assists of her own.  Junior Libero Katie Auge (Salamanca, NY/Salamanca High School) led in digs with 12.

With virtually no time to rest between the two matches, Daemen had to put the loss behind them quickly and they did just that.  After splitting the first two sets of the match, Daemen put themselves in the driver's seat with a 25-21 win in the third, before closing it out in the fourth.

Freshman Lindsey Nowak (West Seneca, NY/Immaculata Academy) came up with the first double-figure kill match in her career as she put down 10 balls in 19 attempts, including the final kill of set four to seal the match.  Ye Wang (Beijing, China/Hachioji Jissen High School) and Rachael Bowler (Tonawanda, NY/Kenmore West High School) split 16 kills between them and Kaitlin Watchey (Jamestown, NY/Jamestown High School) added a season-best seven kills.  Wang also figured in the scoring with nine blocks.

Setters Vazquez and Mack were on point again leading the Daemen attack with 24 and 17 assists, respectively.

Defensively, the Wildcats were impressive.  Auge contributed 22 digs while Fretthold added 12.  Fretthold committed just one serve receive error in 49 attempts.  Also, sophomore Brittany Anthon (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster High School) provided steady back row play off the bench and had eight digs.  Vazquez and Bowler split 14 digs as well.

"This was an important bounce-back match for our defense," Parisi said.  "Auge led the way, as usual, but I thought Anthon came in and gave us a solid back row performance."

Next up for the Wildcats is another long trip to a tournament-style event as they travel to Daytona Beach, FL for the Embry-Riddle Aueronautical University Labor Day Classic.  While there, they'll face Northwood (FL), Peru State (NE), Oklahoma City in addition to facing Northwestern Ohio for the second time in as many weeks.