AMHERST, N.Y. – The Daemen College women's volleyball team suffered their second conference loss of the season to Dowling College tonight in a four set game (21-25, 17-25, 25-22, 17-25) at home in the Lumsden Gymnasium. 

With the loss, Daemen drops to an even 10-10 overall and 5-2 in conference play.  The Lions, who were picked third in the ECC preseason poll, will advance to 15-5 overall with a 5-2 mark in ECC play.   

Senior outside hitter and preseason player of the year Jessica Kalbfleisch paced the Lions with 16 kills on the night while adding 17digs, an ace and a solo block.  No other Dowling player managed more than seven kills.  Kayla Dillman tallied 37 assists on the night. 

Ashley Drzymala (West Seneca, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) hammered down 15 kills in a losing effort for the Wildcats. Ashley had led the team in 20 matches this season and earned her double-double statistics in 15 of the last 17 matches by tallying 12 digs tonight. Daemen received 10 kills from her older sister Amber Drzymala (West Seneca, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster)  and sophomore outside hitter Jenna Reeser (Amherst, N.Y./Sweet Home). 

Daemen led 2-1 early in the opening set, but Dowling ceased that shortly and refused to trail for the rest of the set once establishing a lead.  The Lions fired off five straight points that turned a modest two point lead into a substantial seven point spurt.  Kalbfleisch would have the last say of the first set with a strong kill that led Dowling to win 25-21.

The Lions won the first nine out of 10 points in the second set to gain another early lead that Daemen was not able to bounce back from.  Senior middle hitter Ye Wang (Beijing, China/Hachioji Jissen) was impressive in the second set while tallying two solo blocks.  However her efforts were not enough as the Lions went on to win 25-17. 

The Wildcats would rebound to stir things up with a 25-22 third-set victory.  Deamen was trailing in the first 5-10, but a four point spurt closed the gap by one.  Sophomore setter Katie McKrell (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) would tie the game at 11-11 with an ace to Lion libero Taylor Takeda.  An ace by Paige Recore (Pennelville,N.Y./John C. Birdlebough) would give the Wildcats their first lead in the third-set.  Wang followed that ace with a kill right on the line.  Wang continued to impress by following up with another kill and a solo block to give Daemen a 21-16 lead.  Ashley Drzymala would have the last word with a hit that went right through the hands of her two blockers as Daemen won 25-22.

Wildcat errors did them in during the fourth set as Dowling was able to walk away with a final win of 25-17.  An early six point spurt gave the Lions a lead that the Wildcats could not catch up to. 

McKrell was able to add 42 assists, 15 digs and an ace on tonight's matchup while Wang put down five solid blocks. 

Daemen return to ECC action tomorrow when they host the University of Bridgeport at 11:00 a.m. in Lumsden Gymnasium.