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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
mccaffrey vs lake erie
2
Daemen DAE 6-8
3
Winner Urbana URBANA 10-4
Daemen DAE
6-8
2
Final
3
Urbana URBANA
10-4
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 5 F
Daemen DAE 19 25 25 18 11 (2)
Urbana URBANA 25 18 13 25 15 (3)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball | | By Mike Miranto, Sr. Associate A.D. for External Operations & Communications

Women's Volleyball Falls In Five-Set Thriller To Urbana

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The Daemen College women's volleyball team saw their modest four-match winning streak come to an end at the hands of Urbana University in a non-conference neutral site match today at the Voller Athletic Center on the campus of Roberts Wesleyan College. Daemen held a 2-1 lead in the match, but Urbana rallied for the 3-2 victory (25-19, 18-25, 13-25, 25-18, 15-11).

The loss drops Daemen below the .500 mark for the season at 6-7. Urbana, which toppled Northeast-10 Conference member Franklin Pierce in three sets earlier in the day, ran their winning streak to nine consecutive matches, improving to 10-4 on the season. It was the first meeting between Daemen and Urbana since 2006 when they met in the American Mideast Conference Tournament.

Hannah Delor (16 kills) and Madison Davis (14 kills) paced the Blue Knights' offense, while setters Anna Davis (24 assists) and Deandra Atwood (20 assists) combined for 44 of the team's 51 assists. Kaitlin Trace and Lexi Reinert chipped in with 10 and nine kills, respectively.

Defensively, Urbana's Courtney Niesen notched a team-best 21 digs, while Jenna Franks added 14. Both Delor (17 digs) and Davis (11 digs) reached double-figure digs to post double-doubles in the match.

Meghan Ballou (Eden, N.Y.) led Daemen with a season-high 17 kills, two shy of her career-high. A second team All-East Coast Conference pick last season, Ballou has been moved to the outside hitter position in recent matches as the Wildcats combat the loss of Jenn Heritz (Granger, Ind.) who has been out with an injury. 

Attacking out of the middle, Cristina Apostol (Bucharest, Romania) added a season-high 15 kills, one shy of her career-best effort. Tirzah Peters (Amherst, N.Y.) and Sam Logan (Eden, N.Y.) split 12 kills for the Wildcats, who also got 38 assists from freshman setter Isa McCaffrey (North Royalton, Ohio). McCaffrey has now topped 30 assists in the last six matches, and 11 times total this season.

Defensively, sophomore Ali Greenwood (North Aurora, Ill.) matched her career-high with 22 digs to lead the way, while Logan chipped in with 14.

After dropping the first set, Daemen came back to hit .351 over the second and third sets, powering down 25 kills while committing just five errors. The third set was especially dominant as the Wildcats opened up an early 14-7 lead en route to a 12-point spread in the set's final score (25-13). 

But the Blue Knights responded by opening the fourth set with a 7-0 spurt to seize control. A mid-set rally, including two kills by Logan and one from Courtney Bernard (Lancaster, Ohio), brought Daemen back within four points (21-17), but Urbana shut the door by winning four of the next five points to force a fifth and deciding set.

The fifth set opened with a promising 5-3 run for the Wildcats, aided by a pair of Ballou kills, one from Peters and a service ace from McCaffrey. Urbana scored the next six points, four of which coming on Daemen hitting errors, to take a 9-5 lead. A kill by Apostol brought Daemen back with two points, trailing 13-11. But Urbana again got the clutch points it needed with a kill from Trace and a service ace by Franks to seal the set and the match.

Daemen returns to action tomorrow with a 10 a.m. match against Franklin Pierce. 

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