Daemen volleyball players are all smiles as they react to seeing their name on the NCAA Tournament Selection Show

Women's Volleyball 11/21/2016 9:15:00 PM Mike Miranto, Associate A.D. For Communications

Going Dancing: Wildcats Claim At-Large Bid To NCAA Tournament

Daemen Named No. 2 Seed & Awarded Hosting Rights To East Regional Championship

AMHERST, N.Y. - In just their second year as a full-fledged NCAA Division II program, the Daemen College women's volleyball team has been awarded an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, becoming the first Daemen team in any sport to qualify for a national tournament at the Division II level. Daemen is the No. 2 seed from the East Region and will face No. 7 seed Post University in the opening round of the NCAA Division II East Region Championship. The announcement of the NCAA Tournament field was made this evening on a live Selection Show broadcasted on NCAA.com.

In addition to learning their seed and first round opponent, Daemen has been awarded the right to host the entire East Region Championship - one of eight regional championships from across the country with the winners advancing to the Elite 8 in Sioux Falls, S.D. from December 8-10. Lumsden Gymnasium will serve as the site for the East Region Championship which features the top eight teams from the region which is comprised of the East Coast Conference, the Northeast-10 Conference and the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference. The tournament will take place from Dec. 1-3; starting times for the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals will be announced at a later time.

Additional quarterfinal matchups in the East Region Championship include: No. 1 N.Y. Institute of Technology, the ECC Tournament champions, vs. No. 8 Adelphi University; No. 4 American International College vs. No. 5 Le Moyne College; and, No. 3 University of New Haven, the NE-10 Conference Tournament champions, vs. No. 6 Philadelphia University, the CACC Tournament champions. View the full NCAA Tournament bracket HERE. An opening round win for Daemen would pit the Wildcats against the New Haven-Philadelphia winner.

Daemen will enter tournament play with a 23-7 overall record. The Wildcats captured the ECC regular season championship with a 13-1 league mark before seeing their 15-match winning streak come to an end in the ECC Tournament finals this past Saturday evening at Lumsden Gymnasium against NYIT which earned their first conference tournament title since 1990. The NYIT Bears are the defending East Region champions.

"We are thrilled to be in the tournament field, and proud to be the first Daemen team to earn a national tournament bid at the Division II level," said first-year Daemen head coach Stephanie Albano, the recently-named ECC Coach of the Year. "This is a great accomplishment for our team, especially considering we have just two seniors on the roster. We are doubly excited to have been awarded the hosting bid, and to be able to bring this exciting level of volleyball to the Buffalo-Niagara region. We hope this bigger, more prestigious tournament is received just as well as the ECC Tournament was last weekend."

The Wildcats feature sophomore outside hitter Ashley Drzymala (West Seneca, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster), the 2016 ECC Player of the Year, who is one of just three players in the ECC to top 300 kills and 300 digs so far this season. Her 399 kills presently rank second among all ECC players and 10th in the East Region, and she's on pace to become the first Daemen player to surpass 400 kills in a season since Jenn Karan (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park) notched 409 in the 2011 season.

Her sister, senior outside hitter Amber Drzymala (West Seneca, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) leads Daemen with 336 digs this season while also posting 348 kills. The first-team All-ECC selection and two-time ECC Player of the Week honoree became just the third player in team history to surpass 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career earlier this season.

Freshman setter Bailey Dolegowski (Marilla, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) was named the ECC Co-Rookie of the Year. She leads all ECC players with 1,072 assists, driving a Daemen offense that ranks first in the ECC in kills per set (13.13) and second in hitting percentage (.215).

Additional production has come from Division I transfer Courtney Scanlan (Ellicottville, N.Y./Stony Brook University), sophomore defensive specialist Kailey Ballou (Eden, N.Y./Eden), and freshmen Meghan Ballou (Eden, N.Y./Eden) and Cristina Apostol (Bucharest, Romania/Targu Mures).

Daemen is 4-4 this season against NCAA Tournament teams. Their opening round opponent, the Post Eagles, enter tournament play at 26-5 after falling the semifinals of the CACC Tournament. The Wildcats and Eagles have not met since the latter scored a straight-sets win on September 11, 2015 at the Charger Invitational hosted by New Haven.

Stay tuned to daemenwildcats.com as more information about the upcoming East Region Championship portion of the NCAA Tournament becomes available. A full tournament preview will be posted in the days leading up to the tournament. And, as always, ror breaking news and continuing coverage of the Daemen women's volleyball team, follow @DaemenAthletics and @DaemenVB on Twitter.

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Players Mentioned

#1 Kailey Ballou: L; 5' 7"; Sophomore

#13 Amber Drzymala: OH; 5' 9"; Senior

#10 Ashley Drzymala: OH; 5' 10"; Sophomore

#7 Courtney Scanlan: OH; 6' 1"; Redshirt Sophomore

#14 Bailey Dolegowski: S; 5' 8"; Freshman

#2 Meghan Ballou: OH; 6' 0"; Freshman

#15 Cristina Apostol: MB; 6' 2"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#1 Kailey Ballou
: 5' 7"; Sophomore
: L

#13 Amber Drzymala
: 5' 9"; Senior
: OH

#10 Ashley Drzymala
: 5' 10"; Sophomore
: OH

#7 Courtney Scanlan
: 6' 1"; Redshirt Sophomore
: OH

#14 Bailey Dolegowski
: 5' 8"; Freshman
: S

#2 Meghan Ballou
: 6' 0"; Freshman
: OH

#15 Cristina Apostol
: 6' 2"; Freshman
: MB