ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The Daemen College women's volleyball team closed out the regular-season with a 3-0 victory over Roberts Wesleyan College here today. Daemen improved to 16-11 overall and closed out its East Coast Conference schedule with a 5-5 record. It marked the season finale for RWC, which closes the year at 2-22 overall and 2-8 in the league.

Daemen has qualified for the four-team ECC Championship Tournament, which will be hosted by top-seeded Molloy College next weekend (Nov. 22-23). Daemen is the defending ECC Tournament champion and is making its third appearance in the tournament over the past four years. The Wildcats are seeded third and will face second-seeded University of Bridgeport in the semifinals. Molloy will take on fourth-seeded Mercy College in the other semifinal match. The two semifinal winners will meet for the tournament championship and an automatic bid to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II Tournament.

Daemen outlasted the Redhawks in a pair of tight battles in set one (25-22) and set two (26-24) today, and the Wildcats completed the sweep with a 25-16 win in set three.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Neither team led by more than two points in set one, before the Redhawks opened up a 16-12 lead following a 6-0 run. Daemen regrouped following a timeout and took a 21-17 lead following a 9-1 run. RWC chipped away and eventually pulled to within a point at 23-22, but Daemen scored the next two points to secure the win.
• Daemen held leads of 8-2 and 16-6 in set two, before the Redhawks put together an impressive 14-3 run and took a 20-19 lead. Daemen tied it at 20-20 following a kill by freshman Lexi Prokopius (Independence, Ohio), and the Wildcats later took a 24-21 lead following an ace by Prokopius. RWC answered again and tied it at 24-24, but Daemen got back-to-back kills by sophomore Sam Logan (Eden, N.Y.) and senior Courtney Bernard (Lancaster, Ohio) to deny the comeback.
• Daemen once again jumped out to an early lead in set three (10-3), and the visitors later took a commanding 20-8 lead following a service ace by junior Georgia Wicker (Woodstock, Ill.). The teams traded points the rest of the set and Daemen secured the 25-16 win to take the match.
• Junior Jenn Heritz (Granger, Ind.) paced the Daemen offense, as she totaled 11 kills with just two attack errors and a hitting percentage of .563. Bernard added 10 kills, while junior Allison Post (Windsor, Calif.) chipped in four kills, two blocks and a team-high seven digs.
• Sophomore Hannah McKee (East Highland, Calf.) registered 27 assists and six digs, while Wicker tied Post for the team lead in digs with seven. Wicker and Prokopius both registered a team-high four aces.
• Junior Emily Rowlison led the Redhawks with five kills, 11 assists and six digs. Senior Anastasia Smith added four kills, while classmate Rachel Holmes contributed 16 digs and two aces.
  

GAME NOTES

• Daemen held a 34-20 advantage in total kills, and the Wildcats also held an advantage in total assists (32-17) and total digs (36-33).
• Daemen has now prevailed in the last 10 meetings between the two longtime rivals.
   

UP NEXT
Daemen begins post-season play Friday (Nov. 22) when it takes on Bridgeport in the semifinals of the ECC Championship Tournament. The tournament is being hosted by top-seeded Molloy College. A complete tournament preview will be posted later this week.

Daemen College features the only NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.