OAKDALE, N.Y. – Junior Jessica Kalbfleisch (Ridge, N.Y.) totaled 19 kills and seven digs to lead Dowling College to a 3-0 victory over Daemen College here today in East Coast Conference women's volleyball action.
Dowling has now won five of his last six matches and improved to 13-8 overall and 7-3 in the ECC. Daemen dropped to 1-23 overall and 1-10 in the league.
The host Golden Lions opened with a 25-15 victory in game one and completed the match with scores of 25-16 and 25-12 in games two and three.
Sophomore Amber Drzymala (West Seneca, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) paced the Wildcats with eight kills and a team-high 12 digs. Freshman Jakki Steck (Depwe, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) equaled her season-high for kills (8) and also added four digs and three blocks. Freshman Katie McKrell (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) handed out a team-high 14 assists.
Daemen, which fell to the Golden Lions by a similar 3-0 score last month at Lumsden Gym, was without senior Lindsey Nowak (West Seneca, N.Y./Immaculata) for the second-straight match. Nowak, who appeared in just the first game during a 3-0 loss to the University of Bridgeport last night, entered the weekend ranked third in the conference in total kills (237).
Senior Cassy Kelly (Fraser, Mich.) helped the Dowling cause with eight kills and 13 digs, while junior Kayla Dillman (Rochester, N.Y.) dished out a team-high 43 assists.
Dowling held a 14-10 lead midway through game one and took control with a 7-1 spurt. A kill by Kelly capped the rally and gave the hosts a 21-11 lead. Daemen was within striking distance in game two, trailing by just five points (18-13), but a kill by senior Elizabeth Gorman (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) sparked the Golden Lions on a decisive 5-0 run. Another kill by Gorman capped the run and gave Dowling its largest lead of the game, 23-13. The teams traded points early in game three and the Golden Lions held a 6-5 lead when the hosts secured the match with a 14-2 run. Back-to-back service aces by junior Yarden Amsalem (Tel Aviv, Israel) capped the run and gave the hosts a 20-7 lead.
Daemen is idle until next weekend (Oct. 25) when it travels to Mercy College for a league match. The Wildcats posted a 3-0 victory over the Mavericks last month at Lumsden Gym.
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