AMHERST, N.Y. – The Daemen College volleyball team dropped a heart-breaking five-set match against New York Institute of Technology at home in Lumsden Gymnasium (26-24, 25-27, 27-29, 25-19, 7-15) today.

With the loss, Daemen falls to fifth place in East Coast Conference standings with a 7-6 conference mark and a 12-14 overall record. NYIT will remain in third place as they improve to a 9-4 conference mark and a 21-5 overall record. 

Emily Mankowski led the Bears with 21 kills while Allison Fowler added 51 assists.

Ashley Drzymala (West Seneca, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) and Ye Wang (Beijing, China/Hachioji Jissen) combined for 33 kills to lead Daemen.  Ashley posted another double-double in a losing effort as she added 12 digs on the day.  Sophomore setter Katie McKrell (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) had another great outing as she racked up 56 assists. 

Daemen came out strong in the first set as they gained an early lead of 5-2.  This lead was slowly diminished as the Bears were able to tie the game up at 8-8. The teams were tied at seven separate points during the first set before Daemen would end it.  There were outstanding efforts by Ashley Drzymala as she notched back-to-back kills to gain the lead, and end the game for the Wildcats.

The second set was equally back-and-forth as the teams went point-for-point for the first seven of the game before the Bears went on a four-point run.  Daemen answered right back with a four-point spurt of their own, to gain a lead of 10-8.  Daemen held onto the lead until NYIT tied the game at 16-16 by taking advantage of Wildcat errors.  The Wildcats held the lead at 25-24 before the Bears would go for three-straight points to end the second set.

Daemen was ahead 12-10 in the third set before back-to-back Bear kills tied the game at 12-12.  NYIT went on a four-point run to gain a lead at 17-14.  Daemen was able to tie it up at 17 while the two teams went back-and-forth until NYIT gained a one-point advantage at 26-25. The Bears came from behind to go for three-straight points to end the third set at 29-27.

The fourth set was in the Wildcats favor as they were able to jump out to an early lead of 8-3.  Freshman middle blocker Courtney Bernard (Lancaster, Ohio/Fairfield Union) had a standout performance in the fourth game.  She notched three important kills to help Daemen tie the match, winning the set 25-19.

The Wildcats gained an early edge of 4-2 in the fifth and deciding set.  But, the Bears went on an eight-point run that the Wildcats could not recover from.  NYIT would go on to win the set 15-7 with a kill from Karolina Moderova, sealing this important ECC match for the Bears.

Addition production today came from Amber Drzymala (West Seneca, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) as she led the team with 18 digs while adding 15 kills, three assists and an ace.  Wang was impressive at the net as she paced Daemen with five blocks.  Bernard added four solid blocks of her own.  Paige Recore (Pennelville, N.Y./John C. Birdlebough) added 15 digs on the day.

Daemen will continue competition tomorrow (Sunday, November 7) in a home match at 10:30 a.m. against Long Island University Post.