AMHERST, N.Y. - The Daemen College women's volleyball team clinched a bid to the upcoming East Coast Conference Championship Tournament following a 3-0 (25-12, 25-17, 25-11) victory over Queens College tonight at Lumsden Gymnasium. Daemen, which has won 10 of its last 13 matches, improved to 16-10 overall and 10-1 in the ECC. Queens dropped to 1-21 overall and 0-11 in the league.
Daemen will be making it second overall appearance in the ECC Tournament since the Wildcats joined the conference in 2013. The previous appearance came in 2016 when the Wildcats advanced to the championship game.
Tonight's win also kept Daemen atop the ECC standings. The Wildcats entered the night with a one-game lead over Molloy College, which played at Roberts Wesleyan College this evening. Daemen and Molloy square off in a huge conference match tomorrow (Oct. 27) at Lumsden Gymnasium. Start time is 1 p.m. Both teams entered the weekend ranked among the top-10 teams in the NCAA Division II East Region poll.
Sophomore Allison Post (Windsor, Calf.) paced a balanced Daemen attack tonight with 15 kills, three service aces and seven digs. Sophomore Tirzah Peters (Amherst, N.Y.) chipped in eight kills, while junior Meghan Ballou (Eden, N.Y.) added seven kills. Freshman Isa McCaffrey (North Royalton, Ohio) and sophomore Georgia Wicker (Woodstock, Ill.) combined for 34 assists, as McCaffrey totaled 20 and Wicker had 14. McCaffrey also added seven digs, while Wicker chipped in two service aces. Sophomore Ali Greenwood (North Aurora, Ill.) posted a team-high 18 digs.
Senior Leeks Hollis (Holtsville, N.Y.) totaled six kills, two blocks and eight digs for Queens, while classmate Vanessa Juengerkes (Islip, N.Y.) dished out a team-high eight assists.
The first set was a back-and-forth affair early on before the Wildcats took control midway through the set. Queens pulled to within a point (10-9) following back-to-back points, but Daemen scored the next three points and later opened up a 16-10 lead following a Queens attack error. The Knights pulled to with four points (16-12), but the visitors would come no closer as the Wildcats closed out the set with nine unanswered points for a 25-12 win.
Queens held a 5-4 lead in set two, before a kill by Post sparked the Wildcats on an 11-4 run. A service ace by Post capped the run and gave Daemen a 15-7 lead. Queens came no closer than six points the rest of the way, as Daemen took the set 25-17.
Daemen jumped out to an 8-1 lead in set three, and the hosts later opened up a double-digit lead (16-6) following a service ace senior Kailey Ballou (Eden, N.Y). A 6-3 run—capped by a service ace from Post—made it a 22-9 Daemen lead, and the Wildcats went on to a 25-11 victory.
Tomorrow's match against Molloy will mark the final regular-season match for Daemen. Kailey Ballou, the lone senior on the team, will be honored in a pre-match ceremony.
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