OAKDALE, N.Y. – The Daemen College women's volleyball team ended their season this afternoon with a loss against Dowling College, the number two seed in the East Coast Conference, in straight-sets on the road in the Dowling Gymnasium. 

Daemen ends their season with an overall mark of 12-17 and a record of 7-9 in the ECC, holding the fifth spot in conference standings.  The Golden Lions have remained in second place in the ECC with a conference record of 13-3 and an overall impression of 24-6. Both Daemen and Dowling improved from last season. Daemen improved a little more drastically by coming from a 2014 season that celebrated only a pair of wins in their overall and ECC records.  Dowling improved from a 21-9 overall record, but held the same ECC mark of 13-3. Daemen was knocked out of the ECC Tournament by Long Island Post University, the same team that dropped Dowling in the first round of the tourney in four sets. 

It was freshman Courtney Brenard (Lancaster, Ohio/Fairfield Union) who paced the Wildcats for the second day in a row with eight kills and two blocks.  Brenard has stood out immensely towards the end of the season and will be a great person to have on the court next season as the Wildcats lose senior middle hitter Ye Wang (Beijing, China/Hachioji Jissen).   Sophomore setter Katie McKrell (Wester, N.Y/Webster Schroeder) notched 22 helpers in the afternoons match. McKrell's production in the match gives her 1,025 assists this season as she becomes just the fifth player in team history to go over 1,000 helpers in a single season, and the first since Kimmie Mack tallied 1,024 in the 2009 season.  Her 1,000 assist was recorded last night in a losing effort against Bridgeport.  Paige Recore (Pennelville, N.Y./John C. Birdlebough) led the Daemen defense with 15 digs. Additional production came from Mackenzie Knihicicki (Lakeview, N.Y./Frontier) who added two aces.

The Golden Lions were led by Weronika Wiezik who totaled 12 kills while Katarzyna Klocek added three blocks.  Kayla Dillman notched 37 assists for Dowling.

Daemen jumped on the board first due to a pair of Golden Lion errors, but Dowling would answer back by winning four straight points with a trifecta at the net from Wiezik who took advantage of the middle gap in Daemen's defense.  Dowling would not look back from their initial gain of the lead and would widen the point gap with a six point run to earn a 15-7 advantage that Daemen could not bounce back from.  Dowling would win the first set 25-16.

A kill from Dragana Jelovac would open the second set for the Golden Lions, and they held onto the lead for the reminder of the set.  Daemen faltered on the receiving side of things as Dowling racked up four aces in the second set.  Daemen was able to take advantage of five errors on Dowling'e end, while Bernard and Amber Drzymala (West Seneca, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) added three kills each. Dowling would close the second set 25-15 with a kill from Brittney Olazagasti.

Dowling gained another early lead, but Daemen was able to tie the game 6-6 with a three point spurt from Bernard and Knihicicki.  Daemen gained the lead at 11-10 by taking advantage of three errors from the Golden Lions.  Unfortunately, for the Wildcats, Dowling would answer back with a three point spurt and ended the third set and the game at 25-20.

Even though things did not fall in place for Daemen to secure its first-ever ECC Tournament berth this week, it has been somewhat of a remarkable turn-around for a Wildcat team coming off of an unsuccessful 2014 season. In addition, the resurgence has come against a difficult schedule.  To date, 12 of Daemen's 17 losses this season have come against teams that are presently ranked in their respective regional polls, where three of those 12 losses have been five-set affairs.  Add it all up, and Daemen is a team on the rise.  The Wildcats will be saying good-bye to seniors Ye Wang and Mackenzie Knihinicki, meaning they will welcome back players responsible for 80-percent of their total kills, 99-percent of their total assists, 98-percent of their service aces and 97-percent of their total digs.