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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
wvb team vs nyit
1
LIU Post LIUP 10-6, 2-1 ECC
3
Winner Daemen DAE 9-7, 3-0 ECC
LIU Post LIUP
10-6, 2-1 ECC
1
Final
3
Daemen DAE
9-7, 3-0 ECC
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 F
LIU Post LIUP 14 25 23 27 (1)
Daemen DAE 25 20 25 29 (3)

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

Wildcats Outlast Pioneers In Battle Of ECC Unbeatens

AMHERST, N.Y. - Four players reached double figure kills as the Daemen College women's volleyball team scored a 3-1 victory (25-14, 20-25, 25-23, 29-27) over Long Island University Post in an East Coast Conference match today at Lumsden Gymnasium. Meghan Ballou (Eden, N.Y.), Tirzah Peters (Amherst, N.Y.), Cristina Apostol (Bucharest, Romania) and Allison Post (Windsor, Calif.) paced a balanced Daemen offense as the Wildcats attacked at a .345 clip, their second most efficient effort of the season to date.

The win was Daemen's second in as many days over teams expected to be among the ECC's upper echelon this season. LIU Post was picked in a tie for second place in the league's preseason poll after posting a 28-6 overall record in 2017. The Wildcats were coming off last night's 3-1 win over New York Institute of Technology which was also tied for second in the ECC preseason poll. The Wildcats have now won seven of their last eight matches, improving their overall record to 9-7 while also keeping their perfect ECC record (3-0) intact. LIU Post dropped to 10-6 overall and 2-1 in league play. It was their first loss in a regular season ECC match since Oct. 18, 2017, snapping a string of seven consecutive victories.

Ballou, the reigning ECC Player of the Week, equaled her season-high with 17 kills while also adding 11 digs. The 6-foot junior outside hitter has now recorded double-doubles in back-to-back matches after posting 11 kills and 12 digs in the win over NYIT. The offensive production today came on 35 attempts as she hit a season-high .343.

Peters (13 kills, .455 hitting percentage) and Apostol (11 kills, .409 hitting percentage) each continued their strong play out of the middle, while Post stepped up on the outside for the second straight match. Some of the biggest swings of the contest were made by Post who totaled a career-high 10 kills. 

Freshman setter Isa McCaffrey (North Royalton, Ohio) continues to rack up impressive numbers. She notched a career-high 56 assists today, her third match this season with 50 or more. 

Defensively, the sophomore tandem of Ali Greenwood (North Aurora, Ill.) and Georgia Wicker (Woodstock, Ill.) led the way for Daemen. Greenwood contributed a match-high 19 digs, and Wicker totaled 14. Wicker also added four service aces.

The Pioneers were led by senior outside hitter Rachel Londot, the 2017 ECC Player of the Year. She notched team-highs of 15 kills and 17 digs. The Pioneers also got solid outings from Lauren Kloos (12 kills), Samantha Colombo (11 kills, 11 digs) and Kassie Akouri-Tejedor (27 assists).

The Wildcats set the tone with a dominating effort in the opening set, leading 8-2 early on and then opening up a 10-point gap at 22-12. That was too much for the visitors to overcome as Daemen put down 19 kills and hit .552 in the frame.

The Pioneers picked it up in the second set, using a 12-4 run to turn a 7-6 deficit into an insurmountable 19-10 lead. The Wildcats closed to within four points late in the set (24-20), but a kill by Colombo ended any thoughts of a dramatic comeback.

In the third, Daemen battled back from an early 10-5 deficit and forged ahead 13-11 when Apostol served during a 6-0 spurt. The teams traded points, and except for ties at 14-14 and 21-21, Daemen never relinquished the lead. With the Wildcats leading 24-20, a wild sequence ensued with Post diving for a one-handed dig which was then deflected over the net by Courtney Bernard (Lancaster, Ohio); the deflection sent the Pioneers scrambling and they were unable to return the ball over the net.

The Pioneers jumped out to an early 7-4 lead in the fourth set, but again Daemen battled back. The Wildcats took their first lead of the set at 10-9 on a kill by Post. Seven ties went up on the scoreboard over the next 17 points, until Daemen provided some breathing room with a 4-0 spurt. An Apostol kill gave Daemen the lead at 19-18, and Post followed with back-to-back kills. A bad set by the Pioneers put the Wildcats ahead 22-18. 

Londot would not let her team go quietly as she put down back-to-back kills of her own, sparking a 4-0 spurt which knotted the score. The teams again traded points, and after three prior opportunities to close out the match, the Wildcats finally did on their fourth opportunity. Another kill by Apostol gave them a 29-27 advantage, and the winning kill came on the ensuing point by Post.

The match was the second of three in as many days at Lumsden Gymnasium for the Wildcats as they welcome a trio of opponents who entered the weekend with a combined 107-37 record since the start of the 2017 season. Defending Northeast-10 Conference and East Region champion University of New Haven comes into town for midday match on Sunday. 

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