Women's Volleyball 10/19/2018 11:30:00 AM By Mike Miranto, Sr. Associate A.D. for External Operations & Communications

ECC Unbeaten Wildcats Visit LIU Post & NYIT This Weekend

GAME INFORMATION & LINKS
Game #24
Daemen Wildcats (14-9, 8-0 ECC) vs. LIU Post Pioneers (15-9, 5-3 ECC)
Saturday, Oct. 20 | 12 p.m.
Brookville, N.Y. | Pratt Recreation Center

LIVE VIDEO
LIVE STATS

Game #25
Daemen Wildcats (14-9, 8-0 ECC) vs. NYIT Bears (10-12, 2-6 ECC)
Sunday, Oct. 21 | 12 p.m.
Old Westbury, N.Y. | Recreation Hall

LIVE VIDEO
LIVE STATS

THE SERVE
Daemen looks to remain atop the East Coast Conference standings when playing a pair of road matches this weekend. The ECC unbeaten Wildcats will visit third-place LIU Post and sixth-place NYIT. With two wins and favorable results in other conference matches this weekend, the Wildcats can actually clinch a conference tournament berth. Daemen has won 12 of their last 15 matches, and they've been idle since scoring a 3-1 win over rival Roberts Wesleyan on Oct. 12. LIU Post is the only team in the league with more overall victories than Daemen, and they'll enter Saturday's match riding a three-match winning streak. NYIT, which was picked second in the ECC preseason poll, is fighting for their postseason lives this weekend with matches against Roberts Wesleyan (Saturday) and Daemen (Sunday).

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 (2.80), Meghan Ballou (2.76), Jenn Heritz (2.67), Cristina Apostol (2.53), Sam Logan (2.33) and Allison Post (2.12). 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 and Bridgeport boast as many as four players averaging better than 2.0 kills per set. As a team, Daemen leads the league and ranks 50th nationally by averaging 13.44 kills per set.

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 were coping with the loss of Jenn Heritz who was out with an injury. Ballou has reached double figure kills in nine of the last 12 matches. For the season, Ballou ranks among the league leaders in total kills (207 - 5th), total attacks (588 - 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 (213 - 3rd) and kills per set (2.80 - 7th). Her .292 hitting percentage leads the team and ranks fifth in the conference. Peters has reached double figure kills in 12 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 2.53 kills on a .282 hitting percentage, and she leads the team with 40 blocks. She ranks among the league leaders in the total kills (177 - 9th), kills per set (12th), hitting percentage (7th), and total blocks (11th).

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 864 assists, a total which presently leads the ECC and ranks 29th nationally. McCaffrey (10.80 assists/set) and Molloy's Sophia Smith (10.17) 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 six successive weeks this season. 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 22 of the team's 23 matches while making 10 starts so far this season. She's hitting .262 and contributing 1.67 kills per set. Bernard notched a season-high 12 kills in Daemen's 3-1 win over Roberts Wesleyan on Oct. 12.

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 fourth in the ECC by averaging 16.66 digs per set. Ballou, the team's lone senior, is closing in on reaching 900 digs for her career (868 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 4.10 digs-per-set average, while Wicker is contributing 2.92 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 2.67 kills and 2.47 digs per set over the last five matches. She has totaled at last eight kills in four of the five 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 2.33 kills and 2.68 digs per set. Her 161 total kills ranks 15th in the conference, and first among all freshmen in the league.

LIU POST SCOUTING REPORT
LIU Post is under the direction of first-year head coach Stephanie Sheehan who was promoted to the position after serving as an assistant coach in 2017. Sheehan is no stranger to NCAA Division II volleyball having been a three-time All-NE-10 selection as a player at Merrimack, and also previously serving as an assistant coach at Molloy. Sheehan takes over an LIU Post program that has finished with a .500 record or better in 13 consecutive seasons, and the team's roster features 16 returners from their 2017 team that finished 28-6 overall and 12-2 in ECC play while also advancing to the NCAA Division II East Regional. The group's returners is undoubtedly headlined by senior outside hitter Rachel Londot, the 2017 ECC Player of the Year. Junior setter Kassie Akouri-Tejedor (second team All-ECC) and junior middle hitter Lea Brady (honorable mention All-ECC) also return. The Pioneers (15-9, 5-3 ECC), who were picked in a tie for second place in the ECC preseason poll, head into the weekend having won three straight matches. Londot has paced the Pioneer offense with 281 total kills and 3.12 kills per set, numbers which both rank second among the league leaders. Abby Eckhardt has paced the Pioneers' defense, averaging 4.17 digs per set (5th in ECC). The Pioneers like to score off their serves as they lead the league by averaging 2.09 service aces per set.

ALL-TIME SERIES: DAEMEN VS. LIU POST
Series Record: 6-6
Streak: Won 1
Last Meeting: Daemen 3, LIU Post 1 | Sept. 22, 2018 | Amherst, N.Y.

NYIT SCOUTING REPORT
NYIT is led by longtime head coach Gail Wasmus who has been with the program for 32 of its 41-year history. She headed the Bears from 1976-86 and led them to a 213-120 record, then returned in 1997 and has since led them to a 413-298 record over 21 seasons. All together, Wasmus holds a 634-424 record at NYIT, and she's guided the team to 12 NCAA Tournament appearances. The Bears have won at least 25 matches in four of the last five seasons, including a 25-9 campaign in 2017. Gone from that team are first team All-ECC picks Karolina Moderova and Allison Fowler (also the ECC Setter of the Year), but the Bears do return six players, including first team All-ECC selection Tiffany Verni. After being picked in a tie for second place in the ECC preseason poll, the Bears opened the 2018 season with six wins in their first seven contests, but are just 4-11 since Sept. 8. Verni, a 5-foot-8 senior outside hitter who was named the ECC Preseason Player of the Year, is the only player in the league averaging better than 4.0 kills per set, averaging 4.49 which ranks seventh in the country; she also leads the league in total kills (364) and total attacks (1103). Freshman defensive specialist Jamie Yonker has made an immediate impact by averaging a league-best 5.74 digs per set; she has twice been named the league's Defensive Player of the Week this season.

ALL-TIME SERIES: DAEMEN VS. NYIT
Series Record: 4-9
Streak: Won 1
Last Meeting: Daemen 3, NYIT 1 | Sept. 21, 2018 | Amherst, N.Y.

ON THE HORIZON
Daemen returns to Lumsden Gymnasium where they'll face ECC foes Queens (Friday, Oct. 26) and Molloy (Saturday, Oct. 27) to close out the home portion of their 2018 regular season schedule.

Print Friendly Version

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