Women's Volleyball Plays At D'Youville, Hosts Saint Rose This Week

10/11/2023 10:04:00 AM

By: CONTACT: Mary Margaret Johnson, Assistant Athletics Communications Director | mmjohnso@daemen.edu

AMHERST, N.Y. -- After traveling four of the first six weekends of the 2023 season, the Daemen University women's volleyball team will stay in Western New York this weekend to play a pair of matches. The Wildcats will round out the first half of East Coast Conference play on Thursday as they travel across town to play at D'Youville in a 7 PM match, then will host Saint Rose in a non-conference match on Saturday afternoon at 4 PM. The Wildcats come into this week's matches with a 14-4 overall record and a 5-0 record in ECC play and are on a seven match win streak.

WEEKEND DOMINANCE
The Wildcats won all three matches over the weekend in perfect 3-0 sweeps in each match. Daemen cruised to a 3-0 victory over Post in a non-conference tilt on Friday night. Senior Giselle Giraud (Orlando, Fla.) led the team with 10 kills, senior libero Jasmine Brundage (East Aurora, N.Y.) led all players with 11 digs, while junior middle Amelia Armstrong (River Falls, Wisc.) totaled three blocks in the win. On Saturday, the Wildcats extended their ECC win streak to 27 matches, handling Mercy 3-0 after freshman Charlotte Koerber (Munich, Germany) posted 17 kills and Vanessa Kuliga (Glenview, Ill.) and Maggie Burns (Louisville, Ky.) combined for 18 kills and a .302 hitting percentage. Senior setter Dunja Masic (McHenry, Ill.) controlled the Wildcat offense with 33 assists against Mercy. On Sunday, the Wildcats faced off against first-year program St. Thomas Aquinas and finished with another perfect 3-0 victory. Giraud and Armstrong each tallied eight kills, while Masic led the match with 38 assists, and Brundage totaled 12 digs. Eight different Wildcats recorded kills as Daemen out-hit STAC 44-23 while hitting at a .326 clip.

ECC AWARDS
For the second week this season, the Wildcats swept the weekly ECC awards. Burns was named ECC Player of the Week for the first time this season after posting 24 kills (2.76 kills/set) and 29 digs (3.22 digs/set). Brundage earned Defensive Player of the Week for the third week with her 36 dig (4.0 digs/set) performance. Masic was named the Setter of the Week for the second time after totaling 100 assists (11.11 assists/set) and running the Wildcat offense to a 127 kill weekend. Koerber earned Rookie of the Week for the third time this season, her fifth total weekly award, after leading the team with 32 kills (4.0 kills/set) for a .475 hitting percentage along with 22 digs.

KILLER KOERBER
Not only was the freshman phenom named the ECC Rookie of the Week for the third time this season, on Friday she was named Daemen's Female Athlete of the Month for the month of September after totaling a team-high 177 kills (fourth in ECC), 3.85 kills per set (3rd in ECC) and 26 aces for 0.57 aces per set (3rd in ECC) while tallying eight double-doubles and leading the Wildcats offensively in eight matches. Koerber played a huge role in the Wildcats going 11-4 overall and 3-0 in the ECC in the month of September while being named the ECC Player of the Week twice and the ECC Rookie of the Week twice.

STAT CATS
The Wildcats lead the ECC with 845 total kills, averaging 13.41 kills per set for a league-high .231 hitting percentage. Daemen leads all ECC teams with 12.03 assists/set (758 total assists), 16.21 digs per set with 1,021 total digs, and 147 total service aces on the year. Brundage leads the league with 281 total digs for a league-high 5.02 digs per set. Giraud ranks second in the ECC with a .370 hitting percentage, and ranks fifth in the ECC with 182 total kills. Armstrong ranks fifth in the ECC with a .311 hitting percentage. Koerber ranks second in the ECC with 3.87 kills per set and third with 209 total kills on the year, while tied for second with Masic with 0.57 aces per set. Masic ranks third in the league with 8.72 assists per set.

FOR THE CURE
Daemen's match against Saint Rose on Saturday will be a pink out as the Wildcats support breast cancer awareness month. The Cats will wear pink shirts during warmups to support the For The Cure cause.

UP NEXT
The Wildcats make the short trek next week to Pennsylvania to play at Gannon on Wednesday, Oct. 18, then return to Lumsden Gymnasium to begin the second half of ECC play over the weekend with home matches against Mercy and St. Thomas Aquinas on Saturday and Sunday at noon and 11 AM.

THE SAINTS
In their first year of postseason eligibility, D'Youville was picked fifth in the league after posting a 4-23 overall record and a 0-10 ECC record in the 2022 season. The Saints comes into Thursday night with a 5-13 overall record and a 1-4 record in ECC play. D'Youville is coming off a 1-2 weekend after picking up a win over Dominican in a non-conference match on Friday, the Saints dropped back-to-back ECC matches against STAC and Mercy on the weekend. D'Youville is led offensively by freshman Madeline O'Brien who leads the league with 252 total kills and ranks fourth in the ECC with 3.65 kills per set. Senior Emma Wlowstowski ranks fourth in the league with 211 total digs on the year.

SERIES HISTORY
The Wildcats own an 8-0 record over D'Youville dating back to 1999.

THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS
After posting a 13-15 record in the 2022 season, Saint Rose comes into Saturday's match with a 5-12 overall record. The Golden Knights average 10.3 kills per set on the year, and are led offensively by senior outside hitter Jessica Vargas who totals 187 kills (2.88 kills/set), and also leads the team with 23 aces on the year. Fellow senior outside hitter Juliana Venduro is the only other Knight on the roster with triple-digit kills (106 total). Saint Rose puts up a fight at the net, averaging 2.1 blocks per set, as 6-foot-1 junior middle blocker Julia Cavalcanti, who ranks fifth in the NE-10 in blocks per set, leads the way with 62 total blocks on the year. 6-foot middle blocker Karleigh Fripp totals 49 blocks as well.

SERIES HISTORY
Daemen owns a 5-1 record over Saint Rose. The Wildcats' win streak over the Golden Knights came to an end last season as Saint Rose upended them 3-1 in Albany.

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.

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