TOURNAMENT INFORMATION & LINKS
East Coast Conference Women's Volleyball Championship
Semifinals
Friday, Nov. 22 | Rockville Centre, N.Y. | Quealy Gymnasium
5 p.m. - #1 Molloy (23-4, 10-0 ECC) vs, #4 Mercy (14-17, 5-5 ECC)
7:30 p.m. - #2 Bridgeport (23-6, 8-2 ECC) vs. #3 Daemen (16-11, 5-5 ECC)
Finals
Saturday, Nov. 23 | Rockville Centre, N.Y. | Quealy Gymnasium
7 p.m. - Molloy/Mercy winner vs. Bridgeport/Daemen winner
Tournament Central
Live Stats
Live Streaming Video (via ECC Network)
THE SERVE
Daemen begins defense of its 2018 East Coast Conference Tournament championship when it takes on the University of Bridgeport in semifinal round action of the 2019 ECC Tournament. It marks the second-straight year the Wildcats and the Purple Knights have met in the tournament semifinals. Last year Daemen posted a 3-1 win over UB in the semifinals in a match played at DC's Lumsden Gymnasium. This year's tournament is being hosted by top-seeded Molloy College. Semifinal matches will be played Friday night and the two semifinal round winners will meet for the championship Saturday. Molloy will face Mercy College in the other semifinal match. The tournament champion earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament.
DAEMEN IN THE ECC TOURNAMENT
The Wildcats are making their third appearance in the ECC Tournament since joining the league in 2014. Daemen made its first-ever ECC Tournament appearance in 2016 after earning the ECC regular-season championship. A second ECC regular-season title and second ECC Tournament appearance came last year (2018). After falling in the tournament title game in 2016, the Wildcats claimed their first-ever ECC Tournament title last year following wins over Bridgeport (3-1) and Molloy (3-1).
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 73-46 overall record, a 38-14 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 nine players are averaging at least 1.0 kill per set. Eight players have recorded at least 10 kills in a match this season. Led by junior Allison Post (227 kills, 2.80 kills/set), junior Jenn Heritz (227 kills, 2.41 kills/set) and senior Meghan Ballou (158 kills / 2.05 kills/set), the Wildcats boast three of the top 12 hitters in the ECC, in terms of kills per set. Additional offensive production has come from sophomore Sam Logan (175 kills / 2.03 kills/set) and senior Courtney Bernard (178 kills/1.98 kills/set). Ballou and Bernard also rank among the most efficient hitters in the league. Ballou is attacking a .312 clip, ranking third among the league leaders, while Bernard ranks eighth with a .273 hitting percentage. Redshirt-freshman Ali Cousins has come on of late as well. She has posted double-digit kills in two of the last five matches, and totaled a career-high 11 kills vs. Mercy on Nov. 3.
SETTING THE TABLE
Sophomore setter Hannah McKee has emerged the team's primary playmaker over the second half of the season. She has totaled 25 or more assists in nine of her last 11 matches and has averaged 10.24 assists per set over that span. McKee, who is in her first season with the Wildcats after transferring last spring from St. Martin's (Wash.), recorded a career-best 58 assists is a five-set loss to Molloy on Oct. 25. She currently ranks second among the ECC leaders in assists per set (8.57). Daemen's setting group also includes sophomore Isa McCaffrey, the 2018 ECC Co-Setter of the Year who recorded a league-best 1,097 assists last season. She became just the seventh player in team history to reach 1,000 in a single season. McCaffrey has posted at least 10 assists in 46 of 52 career matches, and she recently surpassed Chelsea Turcer for 10th place on Daemen's all-time assists list. Junior Georgia Wicker has also also seen action. She recorded 10+ assists in nine of the first 13 matches this season.
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 391 digs over 27 matches. She currently ranks third in digs per set (4.07) 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 her first of two ECC Defensive Player of the Week honors this season. Greenwood has recorded 10+ digs in 49 of the last 59 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 82 career matches, the junior defensive specialist has totaled 1,133 digs, good for a 3.85 digs-per-set average.age.
BRIDGEPORT SCOUTING REPORT
Bridgeport heads into the weekend with a 23-6 overall record, far eclipsing their win total from all of 2018 when they went 14-13. Head coach Gary Mullin, now in his sixth season with the program, has led the Purple Knights to a 116-60 record to date. He recorded his 100th win earlier this season when UB downed Bentley on Sept. 17. The Purple Knights feature a veteran roster with 11 returning players from 2018, and just two freshmen. Four players are averaging better than 2.3 kills per set, led by senior outside hitter Amanda Hennemann. The Brazilian native ranks second in total kills (310) and fourth in kills per set (3.16) among the ECC leaders. Senior right-side hitter Emily Burford, a second-team All-ECC pick last season, is contributing 2.54 kills per set. Sophomore middle blocker Amanda Keller ranks second among the league leaders in hitting percentage (.396) and is averaging 2.48 kills and 0.68 blocks per set. Sophomore setter Carly Killorin is running the ECC's top offense, and is averaging 8.13 assists per set, fourth-best in the league this season. As a team, Bridgeport leads the ECC in kills per set (12.89), hitting percentage (.231), assists per set (11.98) and service aces per set (2.63).
ALL-TIME SERIES: DAEMEN VS. BRIDGEPORT
Series Record: 6-9
Streak: Lost 2
Last Meeting: Bridgeport 3, Daemen 2 | Nov. 10, 2019 | at Amherst, N.Y.
ON THE HORIZON
The ECC Tournament champion earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament. The 64-team field will be announced Monday (Nov. 25) at 7:30.
