Women's Volleyball Version Of Thruway Rivalry Comes To Lumsden Gym Wednesday

Wildcats Host Longtime Rival Roberts Wesleyan; Daemen Victorious In Eight Straight Meetings

10/15/2019 11:15:00 AM

MATCH INFORMATION & LINKS
Game #19
Daemen Wildcats (12-6, 2-2 ECC) vs. Roberts Wesleyan Redhawks (1-16, 1-3 ECC)
Wednesday, Oct. 16 | 7 p.m.
Amherst, N.Y. | Lumsden Gymnasium
Live Stats
Live Streaming Video (via ECC Network)

THE SERVE
The women's volleyball version of the Thruway Rivalry comes to Lumsden Gymnasium on Wednesday evening as Daemen hosts Roberts Wesleyan. It's been a one-sided rivalry of late with Daemen winning eight straight meetings, as well as 18 of the last 22 dating back to the 2008 season. The Wildcats are coming off a 3-1 win at Southern Connecticut State this past Sunday, but are looking to jump back over .500 in conference play following Saturday's loss at Bridgeport. RWC has found tough sledding thus far in 2019 with one win in 17 contests.

ALL ABOUT ALBANO
Since taking the reins of the program in 2016, Stephanie Albano has built the Wildcats into one of the top teams in the East Coast Conference and NCAA Division II East Region. She's guided the program to a 69-41 overall record, a 35-11 mark in conference play, two ECC regular season championships, two NCAA tournament berths and an ECC tournament crown. Albano is a two-time ECC Coach of the Year, the 2016 NCAA Division II East Region Coach of the Year and past recipient of the American Volleyball Coaches Association 30 Under 30 Award. Albano's ascent into coaching came after a stellar prep and collegiate playing career. She was named the Gatorade New York State Player of the Year following her senior season at Lancaster High School, and went on play collegiately at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Before becoming Daemen's associate head coach in 2015, Albano held assistant coaching positions at Canisius, Medaille and Buffalo.

MAGICAL YEAR
The 2018 season was one for the ages as the Wildcats posted a 21-11 overall record, the 11th 20-win season in program history and their second as an NCAA Division II team. It included a run to the program's second ECC regular season championship as the Wildcats went 13-1 in conference play. Daemen opened the conference slate with nine straight wins. A 3-2 setback at New York Tech on Oct. 21 snapped the streak, but the Wildcats responded with four consecutive wins to close the regular season. They clinched the outright regular season league championship with a 3-2 win at Mercy on Nov. 3, an accomplishment that included the No. 1 seed and hosting rights for the ECC tournament. After falling short of the ECC tournament crown in 2016, the Wildcats sealed the deal this time around, defeating No. 4 Bridgeport (3-1) and No. 2 Molloy (3-1) at Lumsden Gymnasium. The Wildcats earned the No. 3 seed in the East Region Championship portion of the NCAA tournament, but their magical season came to an end following a 3-0 loss to eventual regional champion American International.

LIFE IN THE BALANCE
The Wildcats featured a balanced offensive attack in 2018 with six players averaging better than 2.0 kills per set. Five of those players return to the roster in 2019, and balance has again been a staple for the Wildcats as eight players are averaging at least 1.0 kill per set. Five players have recorded at least 10 kills in a match this season, led by juniors Allison Post (159 kills, 2.79 kills per set) and Jenn Heritz (143 kills, 2.31 kills per set) who have each done so six times. Add in sophomore Sam Logan's production (2.28 kills per set) and the Wildcats boast three of the top 12 hitters in the ECC, in terms of kills per set. Although their kill numbers are slightly down from last season, seniors Meghan Ballou (1.98 kills/set) and Courtney Bernard (1.66 kills/set) are among the most efficient hitters in the league. Ballou is attacking a .325 clip, ranking third among the league leaders. Bernard ranks fifth with a .302 hitting percentage.

SETTING THE TABLE
Sophomore setter Isa McCaffrey returns after being named the ECC Co-Setter of the Year in 2018. The Ohio native recorded an ECC-best 1,097 assists last season, becoming just the seventh player in team history to reach 1,000 in a single season. McCaffrey has posted at least 10 assists in 45 of 49 career matches, and she recently surpassed Chelsea Turcer for 10th place on Daemen's all-time assists list. She currently ranks sixth among the ECC leaders in assists per set (5.19). McCaffrey has gotten help running the offense from veteran Georgia Wicker and newcomer Hannah McKee. Wicker recorded 10+ assists in nine of the first 13 matches this season. McKee, who transferred last spring from St. Martin's (Wash.), has come on of late, averaging 7.29 assists per set over the last five matches. She posted a career-high 46 assists - the most for any Daemen setter this season - in a 3-1 win over Southern Connecticut State on Oct. 13.

GETTING GREENY
With so much of the attention focused on Daemen's balanced offense in 2018, Ali Greenwood flew a bit under the radar as she anchored the Wildcat defense as its libero. Her contributions didn't go unnoticed by coaches and teammates however, and she was named the team's MVP after recording 507 digs, third-best among all ECC players. She has already set the tone again defensively in 2019, totaling a team-high 284 digs over the first 18 matches. She currently ranks second in digs per set (4.58) and fourth in total digs among the ECC leaders. Her performance at the season-opening Daemen Volleyball Invitational led to a selection on the all-tournament team as well as ECC Defensive Player of the Week honors. Greenwood has recorded 10+ digs in 45 of the last 51 matches dating back to her freshmen season. She posted 32 digs in Daemen's five-set win over Urbana earlier this season, one shy of her career-high. Greenwood recorded the 1,000th dig of her career in a 3-0 loss at Bridgeport on Oct. 12. In 73 career matches, the junior defensive specialist has totaled 1,026 digs, good for a 3.95 digs-per-set average.

ECC AND EAST REGION DOMINANCE
Daemen has won 15 of their last 18 regular season ECC contests, and the Wildcats hold a nine-game winning streak in home conference matches. Since the start of the 2016 season, Daemen owns a 35-11 conference record. In the same time span, the Wildcats are 57-21 in all matches against East Region opponents (.731 winning percentage).

HOME COOKING
Wednesday's match takes place at the friendly confines of Lumsden Gymnasium where the Wildcats have won 14 of their last 15 matches. Daemen is 8-1 at home this season, and the Wildcats have posted a .708 winning percentage here since the start of the 2016 season (34-14 overall).

ROBERTS WESLEYAN SCOUTING REPORT
Roberts Wesleyan comes into Wednesday's contest looking to snap a three-match slide that includes losses this past weekend at Southern New Hampshire (3-0) and Bridgeport (3-0). The Redhawks picked up their first and only win of the season thus far on Oct. 4 when they rallied for a 3-2 defeat of Queens. Of their 16 losses this season, 12 have come by 3-0 scores. The RWC roster features eight returning players from their 2018 team that went 6-18 overall and 4-10 in ECC play. That group is headlined by senior middle hitter Anastasia Smith and senior defensive specialist Rachel Holmes. Smith is averaging a team-best 1.88 kills per set. She also leads the team in total blocks (38) and hitting percentage (.290). Smith was named the ECC Player of the Week for Sept. 30-Oct. 6 after posting a season-high 18 kills in the win over Queens. Holmes ranks among the top-five ECC leaders in total digs (263 - 5th) and digs per set (4.53 - 3rd).

ALL-TIME SERIES: DAEMEN VS. ROBERTS WESLEYAN
Series Record: 27-20
Streak: Won 8
Last Meeting: Daemen 3, Roberts Wesleyan 1 | Oct. 12, 2018 | at Rochester, N.Y.

ON THE HORIZON
Daemen faces Northeast-10 Conference member St. Anselm in a neutral site contest Saturday (Oct. 19) hosted by Roberts Wesleyan.

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