Wildcats Stay At #3 In Regional Rankings

By: By Mike Miranto, Sr. Associate A.D. for External Operations & Communications

Women's Volleyball | 11/7/2018 3:20:00 PM

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL NCAA DIVISION II EAST REGION RANKINGS - NOV. 7, 2018
Rank	School	Conference	Overall Record	Last Week
1	New Haven	NE-10	25-5	1
2	Adelphi	NE-10	26-5	2
3	DAEMEN	ECC	19-10	3
4	Molloy	ECC	19-7	4
5	Holy Family	CACC	27-5	5
6	American International	NE-10	20-10	6
7	LIU Post	ECC	19-12	8
8	Bridgeport	ECC	14-12	9
9	Pace	NE-10	20-10	7
10	St. Anselm	NE-10	17-11	10

AMHERST, N.Y. - 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. It marks the second straight week that the Wildcats have been in the third position after debuting at No. 7 on Oct. 24. 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 this week.

Daemen has won 17 of their last 21 matches, ending the regular season at 19-10 overall. At 13-1 in ECC play, the Wildcats are ECC regular season champions for the second time in the last three seasons, and they'll be the No. 1 seed in the upcoming ECC Championship tournament which will be held November 9-10 at Lumsden Gymnasium. The Wildcats take a four-match winning streak into the postseason.

Daemen wasn't the only team staying put as their was no movement in the top six teams from last week's poll. NE-10 member University of New Haven, the defending East Region champions, come in at No. 1 for the third straight week, followed by fellow NE-10 member Adelphi University. Molloy College (No. 4), Holy Family University (No. 5) and American International College (No. 6) round out the top six.

ECC members Long Island University Post and the University of Bridgeport each moved up one spot to seventh and eighth, respectively. All four teams competing in this weekend's ECC Championship tournament are included in the regional rankings. Pace University (No. 9) and St. Anselm College (No. 10) round out the poll.

Daemen has featured a balanced offensive attack this season as six players average better than two kills per set. Sophomore outside hitter Allison Post (Windsor, Calif.) has come on late in the season and is playing the best volleyball of her career. She's reached double-figure kills in five straight matches, and is contributing a team-best 2.71 kills per set for the season, ranking seventh among the ECC leaders. Junior Meghan Ballou (Eden, N.Y.) and sophomore Tirzah Peters (Amherst, N.Y.) rank eighth and ninth in the league, respectively, in kills per set. Ballou is contributing 2.67 kills per set, and Peters is averaging 2.62 kills per set on a .296 hitting percentage.

The offense has been quarterbacked all season by freshman setter Isa McCaffrey (North Royalton, Ohio) who ranks second among the ECC leaders by averaging 10.17 assists per set. McCaffrey has been a seven-time weekly honoree from the conference, collecting four ECC Setter of the Week and three 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 17.07 as a team. That effort has been led by sophomores Ali Greenwood (North Aurora, Ill.) and Georgia Wicker (Woodstock, Ill.) who have combined for 745 digs this season. Greenwood ranks fourth in the ECC in digs per set (4.41).

Daemen is 6-1 this season against teams ranked in the poll this week. The Wildcats hold two victories over No. 4 Molloy, No. 7 LIU Post and No. 8 Bridgeport, while their lone loss was to top-ranked New Haven. Daemen is 60-29 in all matches against regional opponents since the start of the 2015 season.

Daemen opens conference tournament play against fourth-seeded Bridgeport this Friday, Nov. 9 at 6 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

#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

#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