Box Score

AMHERST, N.Y. - The Daemen College women's volleyball team suffered a straight-sets defeat (19-25, 19-25, 21-25) tonight at the hands of visiting Dowling College before a packed house in the team's 2014 home opener at Lumsden Gymnasium.  With the loss, Daemen falls to 0-11 on the season and 0-2 in East Coast Conference play, while the Golden Lions snap their five-match skid to jump back over .500 (6-5) overall while grabbing their first league victory (1-1) of the season.

Dowling established an early 9-5 lead in the first set and went on to lead by as many as five points for much of the period.  Daemen trimmed a four-point deficit (20-16) in half late in the set after back-to-back kills by Jenna Reeser (Amherst, N.Y./Sweet Home) and Lindsey Nowak (West Seneca, N.Y./Immaculata), but the Golden Lions rattled off the next three to go back ahead by five (23-18).  Another Nowak kill brought Daemen within four again, but Dowling closed out the set with kills by Dragana Jelovac and Jessica Kalbfleisch.

Daemen led by as many as three points early in the second set as they attempted to even up the match, but Dowling used a quick 4-0 spurt to turn an 8-7 deficit into an 11-8 lead.  Dowling never trailed again in the set, as Daemen would draw only as close as two (17-15) the rest of the way.

It was a 14-12 Daemen lead in the third set, backed by kills from Reeser and fellow freshman Jakki Steck (Depew, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) and a Dowling attack error, that was erased when Dowling scored eight of the next 10 points to take a 20-16 lead.  Daemen drew within three (20-17) on a kill by junior Mackenzie Knihinicki (Lakeview, N.Y./Frontier) and again (24-21) after back-to-back kills by Nowak and Reeser.  But, Jelovac closed out the set and the match with her fifth kill of the night.

Kalbfleisch paced the victors with 16 kills while setter Elizabeth Gorman racked up a match-high 32 assists.  Kayla Morgan added 23 digs for Dowling.

Nowak pounded down a match-best 18 kills for Daemen while Reeser notched double figure kills (10) for the first time in her career.  Freshman Katie McKrell (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) contributed 27 assists while sophomore Amber Drzymala (West Seneca, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) and senior Chelsea Turcer (Alexander, N.Y./Alexander Central) combined for 32 digs between them.

Tonight's loss snapped the Wildcats' six-match home winning streak dating back to last season.  The last team to defeat Daemen at home before tonight is tomorrow's opponent - the University of Bridgeport.  Daemen will look to get off the proverbial schnide tomorrow when they host the defending ECC regular season and tournament champion Purple Knights at 11 a.m.