Match #15
Daemen Wildcats (11-3, 4-0 ECC) vs. Mercy Mavericks 8-3, 2-1 ECC)
Date: Saturday, October 8
Time: 1 PM
Location: Amherst, N.Y. | Lumsden Gym
Live Stream: ECC Network
Live Stats: via
daemenwildcats.com
HOME SWEET HOME
The Daemen University women's volleyball team continues their homestand at Lumsden Gymnasium on Saturday at 1 PM, closing out the first half of East Coast Conference play when they play host to the Mercy Mavericks. Saturday's match is a battle between the top two teams in the ECC, with the Wildcats leading the conference with a 4-0 ECC record, and the Mavericks in second place in the league with a 2-1 conference record. This will be the 17th all-time meeting between Daemen and Mercy. The Wildcats have won three of the last four matches with the Mavericks. Daemen has won 17 straight conference matches, and currently have a 48-1 record in sets during ECC regular season play dating back to the start of the 2021 season.
TEAM IMPACT MATCH
Saturday marks the annual
Team IMPACT appreciation match for the Daemen women's volleyball team. All six Team IMPACT children matched with Daemen athletics teams will be celebrated and introduced at the game. Before the match, the kids will be involved in Daemen's warm ups, and they will be a part of the starting lineup introductions. Team IMPACT is a national non-profit connecting children facing serious illness and disability with a local collegiate athletic team, and after which the child, to the fullest extent, becomes an official member of the team by attending games, practices, and other team activities. You can learn more about Team IMPACT
here.
SUCCESSFUL SEPTEMBER
The Wildcats come into Saturday's matchup on a six-game winning streak, posting an 11-3 record, and a perfect 4-0 record in ECC play. On Wednesday, Daemen earned their sixth straight sweep of the season, topping longtime in-state rival Le Moyne 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-15). Through 14 games, Daemen is out-killing its opponents 621 to 458 for a .231 hitting percentage, averaging 13.5 kills per set to 10.0 for their opponents. Two Wildcats have accumulated triple-digit kills on the season, with senior outside hitter
Maggie Burns (Louisville, Ky.) leading the charge with 115 (3.29 kills/set), and graduate student OH
Sam Logan (Eden, N.Y.) right behind her with 111 kills on the year (3.08 kills/set). Burns and Logan are currently second and third in the ECC in kills per set. Logan posted her fourth double-double of the season against the Dolphins on Wednesday. Defensively, the Wildcats average 17.1 digs per set compared to 14.7 for their opponents, with junior
Jasmine Brundage (East Aurora, N.Y.) ranking second in the league with 3.86 digs/set. Daemen averages 11.8 assists/set compared to 8.8 from their opponents. Juniors
Olivia Alessi (East Aurora, N.Y.) and
Dunja Masic (McHenry, Ill.) have split setting duties this season, with Alessi averaging 9.46 assists/set and Masic averaging 8.68 assists/set. The Wildcats have amassed 107 aces on the season, averaging 2.32 aces/set, with
Vanessa Kuliga (Glenview, Ill.) leading the way with 19 on the season after her career-high 6-ace night on Wednesday.
Mickaley Monahan (Saline, Mich.) and Masic have 15 and 14 aces a piece on the season. Through four ECC games, Daemen leads the league in kills (173 total, 14.42 kills/set), hitting percentage (.264), assists (163 total, 13.58 assists/set), service aces (32 total, 2.67 aces/set) and digs (218 total, 18.17 digs/set).
NOTABLE HONORS
The ECC weekly awards keep on coming for Daemen. On Monday, sophomore right side hitter
Kate Ryan (Buffalo, N.Y.) picked up her first career ECC Player of the Week award for her 14-kill (4.66 kills/set) performance against Roberts Wesleyan last Wednesday. Ryan became the seventh Wildcat to be honored in the weekly conference awards this season. The Wildcats have garnered awards in each of the past four weeks, with Ryan becoming the third Daemen player to be named Player of the Week (Burns and Logan previously earned the award in Weeks 3 and 5, respectively).
UP NEXT
Daemen hits the road next Saturday, October 15 when take the short jaunt across Buffalo to play D'Youville. The match is scheduled to start at 1 PM.
MERCY MAVERICKS SCOUTING REPORT
Through 11 games this season, Mercy has posted an 8-3 overall record, and a 2-1 record in the ECC, coming off an 0-3 loss to Bentley on Wednesday. The Mavericks' one conference loss this season was an 0-3 sweep by Molloy in a midweek Wednesday night match last week. This season, Mercy has out-killed opponents 482-366 by an average of 12.4 kills per set compared to 9.4 from its' opponents. Senior outside hitter
Larissa Schneid leads the Mavericks' offense and leads the ECC with 138 kills (3.54 kills/set) on the season. Junior middle blocker
Anyelainy Vizcaino Araujo ranks second on the team with 85 kills (2.58 kills/set). Senior
Julia Pomerleau tops the ECC with her .347 hitting percentage. Defensively, senior middle blocker
Stephanie Lankhorst leads the team at the net, totaling 30 of the team's 46 blocks on the year. Lankhorst ranks second behind Pomerleau in the league in hitting percentage (.301). Senior setter
Yarianne Gonzalez leads the league in assists per set with 9.72, with Daemen's
Olivia Alessi ranking second behind her.
ALL-TIME SERIES: DAEMEN VS. MERCY
Series Record: 13-3 Daemen
Home Record: 8-0 Daemen
Current Streak: Daemen won 2
Last Meeting: Daemen 3, Le Moyne 0 (25-18, 25-13, 26-24) | Nov. 6, 2021, Amherst, N.Y.
Daemen University features the premier 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.
Follow the Daemen women's volleyball program on Twitter and Instagram at @DaemenWVB.
