INDIANA, Pa. - The Daemen College women's volleyball team opened its 2017 season here today by splitting a pair of matches at the Quality Inn Crimson Hawk Invitational. The two-day tournament is being hosted by Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
The Wildcats opened the day with a 3-1 win over Ursuline College. Daemen took the opening game 25-16, before Ursuline outlasted Daemen 32-30 in game two. The Wildcats closed out the match by scores of 27-25 and 25-21 in games three and four.
Daemen closed out the day with a 3-1 loss to Clarion University. The Wildcats opened the match with a 25-21 victory in game one, only to see the Eagles rally late in both the second and third games. Clarion battled back from an 18-15 deficit in game two en route to a 25-20 win, and trailed 17-13 in game three before posting a 25-23 win. Clarion, a NCAA Division II member of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, closed out the match with a 25-12 win in game four. The Eagles, who posted a 16-14 overall record last year, improved to 2-1 with the win.
It was a solid start for second-year head coach Stephanie Albano and the Wildcats, who are coming off a historic 2016 season in which they posted a 25-8 record, claimed the East Coast Conference regular-season title and advanced to the 'Sweet 16' of the NCAA Division II Tournament.
"I'm really proud of our fight, we competed," said Albano. "This weekend is all about competing and learning more about who we are as a team. We did some good things and need to clean up some areas for tomorrow. We learned from today and will bring that into tomorrow."
Daemen got a career-high 19 kills from redshirt-junior Courtney Scanlan (Ellicottville, N.Y./Stony Brook University) in the win over Ursuline, which is a NCAA Division II member of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference and posted a 17-15 record last year. Scanlon, who committed just one error in 49 attempts, also equaled her career-high for service aces (6) and added nine digs. Sophomore outside hitter Meghan Ballou (Eden, N.Y./Eden) helped the Daemen cause with a career-high 14 kills and a career-high 14 digs. Senior setter Katie McKrell (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) dished out 25 assists for the Wildcats, while sophomore middle blocker Cristina Apostol (Bucharest, Romania) added six kills, three aces and five blocks. Freshmen Ali Greenwood (North Aurora, Ill./West Aurora), Jenn Heritz (Granger, Ind./Penn) and Georgia Wicker (Woodstock, Ill./Woodstock) all turned in solid efforts in their collegiate debuts. Greenwood tied for the team lead in digs (14), while Heritz chipped in seven kills and Wicker contributed 10 digs.
Freshman Jesse Lee (Vermillion, Ohio) paced Ursuline with 16 kills, eight digs and three blocks, while sophomore Vikki Henderson (Cleveland, Ohio) added 12 kills and seven digs. Junior setter Katelyn Selling (Parma, Ohio) dished out 30 assists for the Arrows.
Scanlan again paced the Wildcats against Clarion, as she posted a team-high 12 kills and recorded a career-high 25 digs—nearly doubling her previous career-high for digs (13). Ballou added 10 kills and 12 digs, while McKrell posted 34 assists and added 12 digs. Greenwood and Wicker both turned in strong defensive efforts, finishing with 18 and 16 digs respectively. Heritz capped her debut with nine kills and two solo blocks.
Junior Lauryn Driscoll (Aliquippa, Pa.) registered 14 kills with no attack errors for Clarion, while sophomore Julia Holden (Brunswick, Ohio) added 12 kills. Junior Leah Vensel (Erie, Pa.) dished out 34 assists for the Eagles, while senior Catherine Ferragonio (Irwin, Pa.) and redshirt freshman Christina Cotton (Fairview Park, Ohio) both registered 18 digs.
The Wildcats conclude their opening weekend with a single match against tournament host IUP tomorrow at 10 a.m. IUP split its two matches today, defeating Ursuline 3-0 and falling to sixth-ranked Palm Beach Atlantic University 3-0.
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