INDIANA, Pa. - The Daemen College women's volleyball team wrapped up play at the Quality Inn Crimson Hawk Invitational this morning with a 3-0 loss to tournament host Indiana University of Pennsylvania. The Crimson Hawks swept the best-of-five match by scores of 25-14, 25-11 and 25-11.
Daemen, which defeated Ursuline College and lost to Clarion University during yesterday's action, dropped to 1-2 on the year. IUP, a NCAA Division II member of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, improved to 2-1.
"Today's match wasn't pretty", said Daemen head coach Stephanie Albano. "The good news is that a lot of it was just a lack of execution on our part, and that's correctable. The bottom line is that we played against three quality opponents this weekend, which made us better. We have another tough weekend ahead of us, and I think our team is hungry to get to work in the gym this week."
The teams traded points early in game one and IUP held a 10-7 lead when the hosts took control with an 8-2 run. A Daemen attack error capped the spurt and gave the Crimson Hawks an 18-9 lead. The Wildcats came no closer than seven points the rest of the game.
IUP used an early 7-0 run in game two to open up a 10-3 advantage. The hosts later took a 10-point lead, 15-5, following a service ace by graduate student Ellie Burns (Clarion, Pa.), and Daemen came now closer than nine points down the stretch.
The Crimson Hawks jumped out to a 7-1 lead in game three. The Wildcats eventually cut the lead to four points, 10-6, following a service ace by redshirt-junior Courtney Scanlan (Ellicottville, N.Y./Stony Brook University), but IUP responded with four-straight points and later took a 19-8 lead following a kill by junior Sami Brown (Lewisberry, Pa.)
Daemen struggled offensively throughout the match and finished with 29 attack errors and just 21 kills. IUP was much more efficient and finished with 30 kills and just six attack errors.
Sophomore outside hitter Meghan Ballou (Eden, N.Y./Eden) led Daemen in both kills (7) and digs (10). Scanlan, who totaled 31 kills during the two opening-round matches yesterday, contributed five kills today. Freshman Jenn Heritz (Granger, Ind./Penn) chipped in six kills, while senior setter Katie McKrell (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) assisted on 17 of Daemen's 21 kills.
Senior outside hitter Natalie Cignetti (Indiana, Pa.) paced a balanced IUP attack with eight kills, two service aces and six digs. Brown added eight kills and five blocks, while senior setter Katie Miller (Fort Wayne, Ind.) dished out 24 assists for the Crimson Hawks.
The Wildcats return to The Quaker State next weekend (Sept. 8-9) when they take part in the Vulcan Invitational hosted by California University of Pennsylvania. A complete tournament preview will be posted on daemenwildcats.com later this week.
For breaking news and continuing coverage of the Daemen women's volleyball team, follow @DaemenAthletics and @DaemenVB on Twitter.
