Women's Volleyball 10/31/2018 3:15:00 PM By Mike Miranto, Sr. Associate A.D. for External Operations & Communications

Wildcats Ascend To Third In Regional Rankings

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL NCAA DIVISION II EAST REGION RANKINGS - OCT. 31, 2018
Rank	School	Conference	Overall Record	Last Week
1	New Haven	NE-10	23-4	1
2	Adelphi	NE-10	23-5	2
3	DAEMEN	ECC	17-10	7
4	Molloy	ECC	17-7	3
5	Holy Family	CACC	24-5	4
6	American International	NE-10	18-10	6
7	Pace	NE-10	19-7	5
8	LIU Post	ECC	18-11	NR
9	Bridgeport	ECC	13-11	8
10	St. Anselm	NE-10	16-9	10

AMHERST, N.Y. - After debuting last week at No. 7, the Daemen College women's volleyball team is ranked No. 3 in the latest NCAA Division II East Region poll which was released this afternoon at ncaa.com. The Wildcats' four-spot ascent was the largest gain in the poll this week. The East Region of NCAA Division II is comprised of teams from the East Coast Conference, Northeast-10 Conference and Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, and the regional rankings are used to determine at-large bids and seeds for the East Regional portion of the NCAA Tournament following the respective conference tournaments next month.

Daemen has won 14 of their 18 matches to sit at 17-10 overall. At 11-1 in conference play, the Wildcats have already clinched at least a share of the ECC regular season title as well as the No. 1 seed to the upcoming ECC Championships which will be held November 9-10 at Lumsden Gymnasium. The Wildcats locked up a conference tournament bid with their 3-0 win over Queens College last Friday, and then secured the top seed Saturday with a 3-0 win over regionally-ranked Molloy College, the defending ECC champs.

There was no change at the top of the rankings as NE-10 member University of New Haven, the defending East Region champions, come in at No. 1 for the second straight week. The Chargers sit at 23-4 overall and 11-1 in their league with four wins against teams included in the poll. Fellow NE-10 member Adelphi University (23-5, 10-2 NE-10) is ranked second. New Haven and Adelphi are two of five NE-10 members included in the poll.

Molloy (No. 4) and Holy Family University (No. 5) each dropped one position to round out the top five.

Daemen has featured a balanced offensive attack this season as six players average better than two kills per set. The trio of Tirzah Peters (Amherst, N.Y.), Meghan Ballou (Eden, N.Y.) and Cristina Apostol (Bucharest, Romania) have led the way. Peters is one of two players to rank in the ECC's top 10 for kills per set while also holding a hitting percentage of .300 or better. She presently ranks seventh in kills per set (2.73) and second in hitting percentage (.310) among the league leaders. Ballou is producing 2.69 kills per set (eighth in the league) and Apostol is contributing 2.42 kills per set (12th in the league). Sophomore outside hitter Allison Post (Windsor, Calif.) has also come on of late, averaging 4.55 kills per set over the last three matches.

The offense has been quarterbacked all season by freshman setter Isa McCaffrey (North Royalton, Ohio) who leads the ECC by averaging 10.55 assists per set. McCaffrey has been a six-time weekly honoree from the conference, collecting four ECC Setter of the Week and two ECC Rookie of the Week selections. McCaffrey is just the seventh player in team history to surpass 1,000 assists in a single season.

Defensively, Daemen ranks third in the ECC in digs per set, averaging 17.06 as a team. That effort has been led by sophomores Ali Greenwood (North Aurora, Ill.) and Georgia Wicker (Woodstock, Ill.) who have combined for 700 digs this season. Greenwood ranks fourth in the ECC in both total digs (423) and digs per set (4.45).

Daemen is 5-1 this season against teams ranked in the poll this week. The Wildcats hold two victories over No. 4 Molloy and No. 8 Long Island University Post, and a single win over No. 9 University of Bridgeport, while their lone loss was to top-ranked New Haven. Daemen is 58-29 in all matches against regional opponents since the start of the 2015 season.

Daemen wraps up the regular season this weekend when they visit Mercy College (Saturday, Nov. 3) and Bridgeport (Sunday, Nov. 4).

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Players Mentioned

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

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

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

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

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

#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