Box Score

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The Daemen College women's volleyball team saw their pursuit of a second straight victory quelled as Le Moyne College downed the Wildcats 3-1 (25-20, 22-25, 11-25, 24-26) in non-conference action today at Ted Grant Court.  Daemen, which came into today's match riding high after Sunday's defeat of Mercy College, falls to 1-15 on the season, while the host Dolphins improved to 4-8.

Le Moyne opened up a 7-2 lead in the opening set before Daemen battled back, using a 14-4 spurt to grab control.  The Wildcats got some momentum on the serve of sophomore Amber Drzymala (West Seneca, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) who was credited with four of her five service aces in the match during the spurt which resulted in a 16-11 lead for the Wildcats.  

Le Moyne drew within two late in the set (22-20), but Daemen closed out the set with three straight points, including two kills from senior Lindsey Nowak (West Seneca, N.Y./Immaculata).

A back-and-forth second set had Le Moyne leading by one (17-16) before a modest 3-0 run gave the Dolphins their largest lead of the set.  A Drzymala kill followed by another from classmate Adrianna Patzer (Liverpool, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse) cut the deficit in half before Le Moyne swelled it back to four (22-18).  Daemen would come within two points on three other occasions late in the set, the last of which came on a kill by Nowak to make the score 24-22.  The Wildcats couldn't get any further as Le Moyne's Kristen Willets closed out the set with a kill on the next point, tying the match at one set apiece.

Daemen never got organized in the pivotal third set, falling behind 16-5.  The Wildcats got no closer than a nine-point spread the remainder of the set as Le Moyne cruised to take a two-sets-to-one lead.  Le Moyne hammered down 13 kills without an error in the period.

The Wildcats then battled out of a hole in the fourth set as they attempted to bring the match to a deciding fith set.  Trailing 6-0, Daemen scored 11 of the next 15 points to take a one-point lead (11-10).  Daemen got single kills from Nowak, Drzymala and freshman Jenna Reeser (Amherst, N.Y./Sweet Home) in the run while freshman Jakki Steck (Depew, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) downed a pair.

Le Moyne regrouped and briefly took the lead (13-11) before Daemen grabbed it back at 17-16 on another kill by Reeser.  The Dolphins then scored four straight and took a 20-17 lead.

Later, trailing 24-21, the Wildcats fended off three consecutive match points and pulled even with the hosts at 24-all.  Nowak pounded down a kill to start the run which also included a combo block by Daemen's Reeser and Mackenzie Knihinicki (Lakeview, N.Y./Frontier).  But, Le Moyne remained poised and closed out the set and the match with two straight points, getting their own combo block from Allegra Lee Bell and Mackenzie Marple on the deciding point.

Willets led a balanced Le Moyne attack with 12 kills.  Bell and Natalie Casson had 11 kills apiece while Andrea Buchanan managed 10 for the Dolphins.  Megan Maisonet added 46 assists and 12 digs to the Le Moyne cause.

Daemen was paced by the 15 kills of Nowak while Drzymala hit double figures with 10.  Drzymala added a team-high 11 digs for her fourth straight double-double and reigning East Coast Conference (ECC) Setter of the Week Katie McKrell (Webster, N.Y./Webster) contributed 20 assists for the Wildcats.

The loss snapped Daemen four-match winning streak in the all-time series vs. Le Moyne.  Daemen still owns a 7-4 edge in the series and has won seven of the last nine meetings.

Daemen will look to regroup with ECC road matches this weekend at Queens College (Friday, Oct. 3, 7 p.m.) and Molloy College (Saturday, Oct. 4, 12 p.m.).