Women's Volleyball 10/11/2018 11:30:00 AM By Mike Miranto, Sr. Associate A.D. for External Operations & Communications

Wildcats Look To Extend ECC, Thruway Rivalry Winning Streaks Friday

GAME INFORMATION & LINKS
Game #23
Daemen Wildcats (13-9, 7-0 ECC) vs. Roberts Wesleyan Redhawks (3-13, 2-5 ECC)
Friday, Oct. 12 | 7 p.m.
Rochester, N.Y. | Voller Athletic Center

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LIVE STATS

THE SERVE
Daemen puts its unblemished East Coast Conference record on the line this Friday when traveling to Rochester where they'll renew the Thruway Rivalry with Roberts Wesleyan. The Wildcats are coming off a non-conference loss to Le Moyne earlier this week, but they've won 11 of their last 14 matches. The Wildcats closed out the first round of ECC play last weekend with home wins over Bridgeport and Mercy, and they currently sit in the driver's seat as teams begin to jockey for position in the race for conference tournament berths. Daemen has won seven consecutive matches against the rival Redhawks, including a 3-1 decision in Amherst last month. Roberts Wesleyan owns conference wins over NYIT and Queens, but they'll enter Friday's contest looking to snap a three-match slide.

SUPER STEPH
Stephanie Albano enters her third season as Daemen's head coach in 2018. She was promoted to the position in 2016 after serving one season as the team's associate head coach. In her first two seasons at the helm, Albano led the program to a 36-24 overall record and a 20-8 mark in ECC play. In 2016, she was named the East Coast Conference and NCAA Division II East Region Coach of the Year after leading Daemen to the ECC regular season championship. That season also saw Daemen host both the ECC and NCAA Division II East Regional tournaments with the Wildcats advancing to the finals of each. Albano was also selected as one of the American Volleyball Coaches Association 30 Under 30 award recipients in the spring of 2017.

BALANCED ATTACK
The Wildcats have put together arguably the most balanced offensive attack among all ECC teams so far this season. Six players are presently averaging better than 2.0 kills per set - Tirzah Peters (2.82), Meghan Ballou (2.76), Jenn Heritz (2.68), Cristina Apostol (2.58), Sam Logan (2.38) and Allison Post (2.19). Five of the six players rank in the top 15 in the league, while Ballou, Peters and Heritz also rank in the top 10. Only defending ECC champion Molloy boasts as many as four players averaging better than 2.0 kills per set, and no other ECC team has more than three. As a team, Daemen leads the league and ranks 51st nationally by averaging 13.41 kills per set.

THRUWAY RIVALRY
Daemen's 3-1 win over longtime rival Roberts Wesleyan on Sept. 12 ran their winning streak in the all-time series to seven straight. Tirzah Peters led a balanced offensive attack with 14 kills, while Cristina Apostol (13 kills), Sam Logan (12 kills) and Meghan Ballou (12 kills) also contributed. Freshman setter Isa McCaffrey recorded a career-best 55 assists. The win also got Daemen off to a 1-0 start in ECC play for the fourth consecutive season.

BALLING BALLOU
Junior middle/outside hitter Meghan Ballou had her most productive week of the season from Sept. 10-16, averaging a team-best 3.58 kills per set over three matches which earned her ECC Player of the Week honors. Ballou, a second team All-ECC selection last season, opened the week with 12 kills on 28 attempts in a win over Roberts Wesleyan, and she followed up with a season-high 17 kills in a five-set loss to Urbana, two shy of her career-best effort. She ended the week with 14 kills in a win over Franklin Pierce. The production came at a critical time as the Wildcats cope with the loss of Jenn Heritz who has been out with an injury. Ballou has reached double figure kills in eight of the last 11 matches. For the season, Ballou ranks among the league leaders in total kills (196 - 5th), total attacks (558 - 5th) and kills per set (2.76 - 8th).

STRONG UP THE MIDDLE
Sophomore Tirzah Peters and junior Cristina Apostol have combined to give Daemen one of the strongest middle hitter combinations in the ECC this season. Peters has made an early case to be considered the ECC's most improved player after being slowed by injuries as a freshman which resulted in just 16 matches played. Peters has been a consistent force in 2018, and she presently ranks among the league leaders in total kills (203 - 3rd) and kills per set (2.82 - 7th). Her .301 hitting percentage leads the team and ranks fifth in the conference. Peters has reached double figure kills in 11 matches this season, including a career-high 15 in a win over defending Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference champion Caldwell on Sept. 9. She was named the ECC Player of the Week for Sept. 3-9 after averaging 3.73 kills per set on a .577 hitting percentage over four matches. Apostol is producing 2.58 kills on a .277 hitting percentage, and she leads the team with 39 blocks. She ranks among the league leaders in the total kills (170 - 8th), kills per set (12th), hitting percentage (7th), and total blocks (8th).

ISA'S IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Setter Isa McCaffrey has made an immediate impact in her freshman season. The 5-foot-8 Ohio native has racked up 820 assists, a total which presently leads the ECC and ranks 22nd nationally. McCaffrey (10.79 assists/set) and Molloy's Sophia Smith (10.44) are the only players in the league to be averaging better than 10.0 assists per set, and McCaffrey ranks 27th nationally in that category. The last Daemen player to average better than 10.0 assists per set for an entire season was Kristie Martzolf (11.99) in 2004. McCaffrey has garnered honors from the ECC in the last six successive weeks. She was named the ECC Rookie of the Week for Aug. 27-Sept. 2 and again for Oct. 1-7. She has also been named the ECC Setter of the Week for Sept. 3-9, Sept. 10-16, Sept. 17-23 and Sept. 24-30.

BERNARD BATTLES BACK
After missing the entire 2017 season with an injury that threatened to end her career, redshirt junior Courtney Bernard has battled her way back into the lineup in 2018. Bernard, who hit .343 and averaged 2.32 kills per set in 2016, has appeared in 21 of the team's 22 matches while making nine starts so far this season. She's hitting .262 and contributing 1.59 kills per set.

GET DEFENSIVE
A trio of experienced defensive specialists have played an important role for the Wildcats this season. Kailey Ballou, Ali Greenwood and Georgia Wicker lead a Wildcat defense that presently ranks third in the ECC by averaging 16.67 digs per set. Ballou, the team's lone senior, is closing in on reaching 900 digs for her career (866 presently). Both Greenwood and Wicker have spent time as the Wildcats' primary libero. Greenwood leads the team and ranks sixth in the league with her 4.07 digs-per-set average, while Wicker is contributing 2.96 digs per set.

POSTING UP
Sophomore outside hitter Allison Post has really come on of late and is playing the best volleyball of her career to date. Over a five-match stretch from Sept. 21-29, Post recorded her first matches with double figure kills (10 vs. LIU Post on Sept. 22) and double figure digs (11 vs. New Haven on Sept. 23), as well as her first double-double (13 kills, 15 digs vs. Molloy on Sept. 29). The California native established new career-highs in both kills and digs in the win over defending ECC champion Molloy. In that recent stretch, Post averaged 2.69 kills and 2.94 digs per set, while attacking at a .197 clip.

COMING OF AGE
Freshman outside hitter Sam Logan is averaging 3.00 kills and 2.83 digs per set over the last four matches. She has totaled at last eight kills in each of the four matches. The stretch started with a nine-kill, nine-dig performance in a 3-0 win over Queens on Sept. 30. She followed that up with nine kills and 15 digs in a 3-1 win over Bridgeport on Oct. 5. Logan went on to total 10 kills in a loss to Le Moyne on Oct. 9, marking her sixth match this season with double-figure kills. For the season, Logan is producing 2.38 kills and 2.76 digs per set. Her 157 total kills ranks 12th in the conference, and first among all freshmen in the league.

ROBERTS WESLEYAN SCOUTING REPORT
Roberts Wesleyan is led by fourth-year head coach Doug Porterfield, and the team returns 11 players from their 2017 team that went 2-30 overall and 2-12 in ECC play. Among the returners is senior Kristina Button (6-0, MH/OH) who finished second on the team with 156 kills last season. Sophomore Grace Detwiler (6-0, OH) also returns after posting 141 kills as a rookie last season. Defensively, the Redhawks return senior libero Shelby Strausbaugh who led the team with 360 digs. The Redhawks were picked eighth in the ECC preseason poll, and they've opened the 2018 season with three wins over the first 16 contests. RWC snapped a five-match slide with a 3-1 victory over NYIT on Sept. 22, and then added a 3-0 win over Queens on Sept. 29. But, they've dropped consecutive contests to Molloy (3-0), Mercy (3-2) and Bridgeport (3-1) since then. Junior Rachel Holms (5-9, DS/OH) has paced the Redhawks offense thus far with 153 kills, good for a 2.55 kills-per-set average. Freshman Lauren Taeko Chase (5-5, DS/S) has seen the bulk of the action at setter, posting a team-best 348 assists. The Redhawks boast the best blocking team in the league this season, averaging 1.77 blocks per set. Anastasia Smith leads the league by averaging 0.93 blocks per set.

ALL-TIME SERIES: DAEMEN VS. ROBERTS WESLEYAN
Series Record: 28-21
Streak: Won 7
Last Meeting: Daemen 3, Roberts Wesleyan 1 | Sept. 12, 2018 | Amherst, N.Y.

ON THE HORIZON
Daemen is idle until next weekend when they'll trek to Long Island for conference matches against LIU Post (Saturday, Oct. 20) and NYIT (Sunday, Oct. 21).

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Players Mentioned

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

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

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

#9 Courtney Bernard: MB/RS; 6' 0"; Junior

#3 Ali Greenwood: DS; 5' 6"; Freshman

#5 Jenn Heritz: MH; 6' 0"; Freshman

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

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

#16 Tirzah Peters: MH; 6' 0"; Freshman

#11 Isa McCaffrey: S; 5' 8"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

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

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

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

#9 Courtney Bernard
: 6' 0"; Junior
: MB/RS

#3 Ali Greenwood
: 5' 6"; Freshman
: DS

#5 Jenn Heritz
: 6' 0"; Freshman
: MH

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

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

#16 Tirzah Peters
: 6' 0"; Freshman
: MH

#11 Isa McCaffrey
: 5' 8"; Freshman
: S