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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
vb 2016 senior day 11.13.16
1
Mercy MERW 4-20, 2-12 ECC
3
Winner Daemen DAE 22-6, 13-1 ECC
Mercy MERW
4-20, 2-12 ECC
1
Final
3
Daemen DAE
22-6, 13-1 ECC
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Mercy MERW 17 25 8 11 (1)
Daemen DAE 25 21 25 25 (3)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball | | Lea Sobieraski, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

Amber Drzymala Records Her 1000th Career Kill To Lead The Wildcats To Victory

Drzymala Becomes Only The Third Player In History To Reach 1000 Kills and 1000 Digs In A Career

AMHERST, N.Y. – Amber Drzymala (West Seneca, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) reached 1000 career kills to lead the Daemen College women's volleyball team over ECC opponent Mercy College 3-1 (25-17, 21-25, 25-8, 25-11).  Today's match at Lumsden Gymnasium marked the East Coast Conference regular season finale.
 
Daemen improved to 22-6 overall and 13-1 in the conference in today's victory.  Mercy ended their 2016 season with an overall 4-10 mark, and 2-12 in the ECC.  Today's match was the eighth meeting all-time between the two squad, Daemen now leads the series 6-2.
 
Senior outside hitter Amber Drzymala put on a stellar-performance in her last regular season home match at Lumsden Gymnasium.  Drzymala recorded a match-high 19 kills, bringing her career total to 1000.  Amber became the ninth player in team history to reach 1000 kills, and of that 1000 kill club she is only the third player to also have 1000 digs in a career.  She joins Tristan Seibert (2000-03) and Joanna Fretthold (2009-12), going down as one the greatest all-around players to step onto the court at Daemen.  Amber also had 18 digs in the win, for her 12th double-double of the year.
 
Today's match also marked the final regular season home game in the career of Alicia Contreras (Arcadia, Calif./Arcadia).  Contreras tallied seven digs and two service aces.  The senior defensive specialist has developed into one of Daemen's most trusted serving veterans while seeing time in the Wildcats back row.
 
Daemen also saw offensive production from Cristina Apostol (Bucharest, Romania/Targue Mures) and Rachel Stephenson (Hamburg, N.Y./Frontier), registering 12 and seven kills respectively.  Bailey Dolegowski (Marilla, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) continued to pace the Wildcat offensive, posting her eighth double-double in the last nine matches.  Dolegowski handed out a match-high 49 assists and tallied 12 digs.
 
Defensively, Kailey Ballou (Eden, N.Y. /Eden) led the way with a match-high 19 digs and added four service-aces. 
 
Peyton Olson (Albany, Ore.) and Gabriella Fernandes (Islip, N.Y.) led the Maverick offense with seven kills apiece.  Toni Parente (East Patchogue, N.Y.) dished out 14 assists and Brianna Heffernan (East Islip, N.Y.) registered 16 digs in the loss.
 
Daemen jumped out to a quick 7-3 advantage in the opening set on the serve of Dolegowski, which included two kills from Ashley Drzymala (West Seneca, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) and Melissa Postek (Williamsville, N.Y./Williamsville South).  The Mavericks evened the score 13-13 on a kill from Olson, followed by two Wildcat errors.  Daemen regained a 22-15 lead on a speedy six–point run which featured four mistakes in-a-row by Mercy.  Amber Drzymala and Stephenson each nailed down a kill to capture the first set 25-17.
 
The Wildcats used a 9-2 burst, capped by kills from the freshman duo of Apostol and Postek to take the early lead in the second set.  Mercy responded with their own 6-point run on the serve of Heffernan to only trail by one score, 9-8.  A monstrous kill from Apostol, down the right-side line broke a tie and Daemen took the lead 11-10, however Mercy once again evened the score at 11.  The teams continued to swap points before the Mavericks capitalized on Wildcat mistakes to take the 18-16 lead, forcing Daemen to call a timeout.  Olson hammered down a kill to build the Maverick edge 22-19.  The Wildcats were unable to hault the Mercy momentum, ultimately dropping the set 25-2.
 
The two squads went back-and-forth to open up the third set, before Daemen scored three consecutive points for a 7-4 benefit.  Daemen took a huge 13-point lead after scoring 11 consecutive points, ignited by five-straight kills from Apostol for the 18-5 advantage.  The Wildcats continued to control the game the rest of the way, holding Mercy to a single-digit score in the 25-8 victory.
 
In the fourth set, Daemen soared out to a 7-3 lead, bolstered by two kills and a service ace from Amber Drzymala.  The Wildcats built their lead 13-6 with a five-point run on the serve of Katie McKrell (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder).  Kailey Ballou served two aces and Amber Drzymala nailed down her 1000th career kill to spark a seven-point run and take a commanding 22-9 lead.  It was only fitting that senior-star Amber Drzymala finished the set and match with a service ace, Daemen won 25-11.
 
Daemen locked up the No. 1 seed in the East Coast Conference tournament and will host the four-team tourney next weekend at Lumsden Gymnasium.  The Wildcats will match up against No. 4 LIU Post (November 18) in the semifinals at 5 p.m.  NYIT, the No. 2 seed, will meet the No. 3 seed Bridgeport, in the second semifinal contest of the night at 7:30 p.m.  The tournament finals are set for 5 p.m. on Saturday, November 19. The winner of the tournament clinches the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament.
 
For breaking news and continuing coverage of the Daemen women's volleyball team, follow @DaemenAthletics and @DaemenVB on Twitter.
 
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