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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Daemen College women's volleyball team fell to 0-7 on the season today after dropping their opening pair of matches at the Eckerd College Classic.  The Wildcats opened the tournament with a four-set defeat to Queens University of Charlotte (20-25, 17-25, 25-23, 12-25) before falling to the host Tritons, also in four sets (25-18, 13-25, 15-25, 15-25).  Queens evened its record at 3-3 while Eckerd jumped to 5-1 with their victories.

In the opening set against Queens, which competed out of the South Atlantic Conference (SAC), the Royals used an 8-2 spurt to turn a slim 8-7 lead into a seven-point spread (16-9) to establish control.  Four straight points on the serve rotation of Queens' Sydeny Kunz was key to the spurt.  Three kills in a four-point stretch by Daemen sophomore Amber Drzymala (West Seneca, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) stemmed the tide, but only temporarily.

The Royals' lead fluctuated between five and eight points for much of the remainder of the set, until Daemen pulled within four late.  Drzymala put down another kill which was followed by another from senior Lindsey Nowak (West Seneca, N.Y./Immaculata) to make the score 24-20.  But, a Daemen service error on the ensuing point closed out the set for Queens.

Queens raced out to a 9-2 lead early in the second set.  The Wildcats battled back to get within four again (18-14) after another Drzymala kill and a Queens attack error.  But, back-to-back points for the Royals, including a service ace by Kathrina Kirby, put the Royals firmly in command.  The lead swelled to as many as eight points which happened to be the final margin (25-17).

Daemen responded in the third, and avoided a straight-sets sweep by squeeking out a two-point win in the set.  They did so behind the duo of Drzymala and Nowak who combined for eight of the team's 12 kills in the period.  The Wildcats led by as many as six (9-3) early on, and when Queens cut that gap in half to trail 12-9, Daemen rattled off four straight, capped by a Drzymala service ace to re-establish a sizeable lead at 16-9.  Queens got within four shortly thereafter (16-12), but Daemen scored five of the next seven points to go back ahead by seven (21-14).  Another Drzymala kill put Daemen on the brink with a 24-18 lead but closing out the set proved difficult.  Queens strung together five straight points to pull within one (24-23), but a big swing by - you guessed it - Drzymala provided the closing point in the set for Daemen.

The Royals regrouped and jumped out to a 9-3 lead to begin the fourth set.  This time, Daemen could not battle back.  Queens scored 14 of the final 20 points, including five straight at the end, and cruised to a 25-12 win which delivered the match.

Drzymala pounded down a match-high 16 kills while Nowak added 11.  They were the only players to reach double figures among both teams.

Freshman Katie McKrell (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) contributed 27 assists while senior Chelsea Turcer (Alexander, N.Y./Alexander Central) added 11 digs.

Elizabeth Bialkowski, Katie Schoenrock and Kirby paced a balanced attack for the Royals with eight kills apiece, while Kunz put up a match-best 28 assists.

Later, against the tournament hosts from Eckerd, Daemen opened up their first lead of the season in sets.  The Wildcats put down 13 kills in the opening frame and led by as many as eight points on several occasions.

From there, the Tritons, who compete in the Sunshine State Conference, responded with a flurry.  They opened up leads of 11-0 in the second set, and 8-1 in the third, cruising to 12- and 10-point victories, respectively to go up in sets, 2-1.

Daemen got off to a better start in the fourth, but Eckerd turned a 9-7 lead into a seven-point spread (14-7) with a 5-0 spurt.  Daemen got within six on five different occasions, but couldn't string two consecutive points together, until a Drzymala kill followed by one from freshman Alicia Contreras (Arcadia, Calif./Arcadia) which cut the deficit to five (19-14).  But, Eckerd took six of the final seven points to close out the set and the match.

Nowak (15 kills) and Drzymala (12 kills) again led the Daemen offense with McKrell and sophomore Ryanne Dugan (Forestville, N.Y./Forestville Central) split 28 assists between them.

Grace Jones and Ali McAlvany combined for 25 kills to lead the hosts.

Daemen continues tournament play on Saturday with matches vs. Nova Southeastern University and Florida Institute of Technology.  The matchup with FIT will be Daemen's second of the season, having met the Panthers in last weekend's East-West Challenge on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.  A full tournament preview is available at wildcats.daemen.edu where you can always find the latest and most up-to-date information on the Daemen College women's volleyball team.