Women's Volleyball 9/8/2017 8:18:00 PM Lea Sobieraski Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

Women's Volleyball Suffers Two Setbacks At Cal Vulcan Invitational

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 CALIFORNIA, PA. – The Daemen College women's volleyball team suffered two losses today at the California Vulcan Invitational, hosted by California University of Pennsylvania. For the second consecutive weekend, the Wildcats traveled to the Keystone State taking part in a two-day tournament.

With today's losses Daemen falls to 1-3 in non-conference action to begin the 2017 season.

In the first match of the day, Daemen opened with a 3-1 loss to Davis & Elkins College out of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. The Wildcats dropped the first two games by a score 25-22 in both sets before ousting the Senators 25-21 in game three. However, Daemen unable to catch D&E in the fourth and final set, losing 25-20.

Daemen finished out the day with another 3-1 loss to Lake Erie College, another affiliate of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. The Storm opened the match with a 25-21 and 25-18 victory in the first two games, but the Wildcats once again bounced back in the third set, posting a 25-14 win. The Wildcats jumped out to a quick 14-4 lead, stringing together two four-point rallies on the serves of Cristina Apostol (Bucharest, Romania) and Katie McKrell (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder). However, it was not enough to stop the surge of the Storm, who closed out the match with a 25-16 conquest.

Head coach Stephanie Albano commented on the first match stating, "We need to execute at a higher level, we had too many errors and gave them too many points." The Wildcats improved team production in the second match, increasing their total number of kills and digs. In the contest against D & E, Daemen finished with 44 kills and 41 digs, while registering 52 kills and 50 digs in the loss to Lake Erie. "We rebounded and rose to the challenge in the second match, we did some really nice things. Now our challenge is to play at the level on a more consistent basis," said Albano on the improvement of her squad.

Daemen got a career-high 19 kills from sophomore Meghan Ballou (Eden, N.Y./Eden) in the loss to Davis & Elkins, who won their division championship in the 2016 regular season. Redshirt junior Courtney Scanlan (Ellicotville, N.Y./Stony Brook) and freshman Allison Post (Windsor, Calif./Windsor) added 11 and nine kills respectively in the loss. McKrell, Daemen's sole senior, dished out a game-high 44 assists, while freshman Georgia Wicker (Woodstock, Ill./Woodstock) tallied a team-high 12 digs.

Sophomore Kaitlyn LaCour (New Orleans, La.) paced the Senators with 12 kills, 10 digs and three assists, while senior Sasha Johnson (Southfield, Mich.) added nine kills, two aces and five blocks. Veteran setter Zoe Craig (Baton Roughe, La.) registered 31 assists and nine digs in the red and black win.

Ballou, alongside classmate Apostol, guided the Wildcats offensively against Lake Erie as they both notched 12 kills. Scanlan posted her second double-double of the season with 11 kills and 11 digs. The Wildcat attack was once again paced by veteran setter Katie Mckrell who handed out 39 helpers. Daemen's defense was led again by first-year defensive specialist Georgia Wicker, she registered 12 digs in the loss.

Senior Bethany Fisher (Orrville, Ohio) registered 15 kills and three blocks for Lake Erie, while sophomore Brooke Peiffer (Lansing, Mich.) added 11 kills. Hallie Zumack dished out 13 assists for the Storm and Sidney Fletcher (Saline, Mich.) registered a game-high 14 digs.

Daemen concludes the weekend with two matches against Fairmont State and tournament host California (Pa.) tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. Both teams qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season and earned two victories in today's tournament action.

For breaking news and continuing coverage of the Daemen women's volleyball team, follow @DaemenAthletics and @DaemenVB on Twitter.

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Players Mentioned

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

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

#11 Katie McKrell: S; 5' 8"; Senior

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

#10 Georgia Wicker: DS; 5' 3"; Freshman

#14 Allison Post: OH; 6' 0"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

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

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

#11 Katie McKrell
: 5' 8"; Senior
: S

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

#10 Georgia Wicker
: 5' 3"; Freshman
: DS

#14 Allison Post
: 6' 0"; Freshman
: OH