CANTON, N.Y. – The Daemen College women's volleyball team began defense of its 2012 United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) National Championship today, emerging with a perfect 2-0 record on the first day of best-out-of-three pool play matches at the 2013 USCAA National Championships, which are being held on the campus of SUNY Canton.

In their first match of the day, Daemen took down ninth-seeded Penn State-Fayette in three sets (25-7, 23-25, 15-9), and followed it up with a straight-set win over former American Mideast Conference rival Carlow University (25-15, 25-22) - the No. 7 seed in the tournament.
 
Strong play by juniors Chelsea Turcer (Alexander, N.Y./Alexander Central) and Ye Wang (Beijing China/Hachioji Jissen) and seniors Kaley Vazquez (Kenmore, N.Y./Kenmore, N.Y.)  and Paige Tilert (Derby, N.Y./Lake Shore) anchored the Wildcats in their wins today.
 
Vazquez totaled 25 assists on the day (13 against PSF, 12 vs. Carlow) to lead Daemen in helpers; Turcer was right behind her with 23 assists (12 vs. PSF, 11 vs. Carlow). Wang had 18 kills on the day, posting seven against PSF and 11 versus Carlow, both of which were match-high totals for the Wildcats. Tilert had 18 digs to pace Daemen in that category, with seven coming against PSF and the remaining 11 picked up vs. Carlow.

Wang, Tilert and junior outside hitter Lindsey Nowak (West Seneca, N.Y./Immaculata) were named to the USCAA All-America Team at last night's National Championships Banquet.
 
With the two wins, Daemen improved to a 15-9 overall mark on the season.

Pool play resumes tomorrow with a 10 a.m. tilt against No. 5 University of Cincinnati-Clermont and a 2:30 p.m. matchup against Marygrove College - the top seed in the tournament.  Daemen defeated UC-Clermont in last year's pool play round.

At the completion of pool play, the USCAA National Championships will shift to an eight-team single elimination format.  The top four teams in Pool A and Pool B advance to this stage which begins tomorrow at 4 p.m.  The national semifinals and national championship matches are set for Saturday, Nov. 2.