Women's Volleyball Heads To Play Roberts Wesleyan For Midweek Matchup

10/24/2023 2:43:00 PM

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

FINAL REGULAR SEASON ROAD TRIP
The Daemen University women's volleyball team will take their final road trip of the regular season on Wednesday as they travel eastbound on I-90 to play longtime rival Roberts Wesleyan in a midweek East Coast Conference matchup at 7 PM. The Wildcats come into the match with an 18-5 overall record and a perfect 8-0 record in ECC play, while Roberts comes in with a 6-1 record on the year and a 2-5 ECC record.

A LOOK BACK AT LAST WEEK
The Wildcats put together a 2-1 week. Daemen traveled down to Erie, PA on Wednesday for their final non-conference match of the season but fell in a thrilling five set match to Gannon, 3-2. The Cats out-hit Gannon 64 to 52 on the day, but a collection of Wildcat errors were costly in the end. A trio of Wildcats posted double digit kills, as freshman outside hitter Charlotte Koerber (Munich, Germany) led the Wildcats with 17 kills for her 10th double-double of the season, fifth year senior Maggie Burns (Louisville, Ky.) finished with 14 and senior right side Giselle Giraud (Orlando, Fla.) posted 13 kills in the match. Burns posted her sixth double-double with 14 digs, and tallied her 1,000th career dig in the loss. On Saturday, the Wildcats rebounded over the weekend with a 3-1 win over Mercy as junior middle Amelia Armstrong (River Falls, Wisc.) led all hitters with 13 kills on the day. Senior setters Olivia Alessi (East Aurora, N.Y.) and Dunja Masic (McHenry, Ill.) split time running the offense as Masic led the way with 24 assists and Alessi finished with 17 assists. The Wildcats capped off the weekend with a 3-0 sweep over St. Thomas Aquinas on Sunday, winning their 31st straight ECC regular season match. Sophomore outside hitter Nahirka Malpica (Caguas, P.R.) led the way with 14 kills for her second double-double of the season, adding 12 digs on the day. Senior middle blocker Vanessa Kuliga (Glenview, Ill.) finished with 12 kills for a .688 hitting percentage in the win. Through the three matches in the week, Armstrong led all Wildcat hitters with 31 kills (2.58 kills per set) on the week, posting a .269 hitting percentage and recording multiple blocks in each match for a total of eight blocks through the three matches.

ECC WEEKLY AWARDS
Daemen senior libero Jasmine Brundage (East Aurora, N.Y.) led the way defensively last week with a 58-dig performance, averaging 4.8 digs per set. She was named the ECC Defensive Player of the Week for the third straight week and the fifth time this season. The Wildcats have earned weekly awards for six out of a possible seven weeks this season, including sweeping the awards twice.

UP NEXT
The Wildcats will host Queens and Molloy next weekend (Nov. 4-5) in a pair of 11 AM matches for their final weekend of regular season action.

THE REDHAWKS
Roberts Wesleyan had a tough 2022 campaign, finishing the season with a 4-19 overall record and a 2-8 record in ECC play. The Redhawk come into Wednesday's match at 6-11 overall and 2-5 in ECC. Roberts averages 11.2 kills per set and are led offensively by the duo of sophomore outside hitter Olivia Price and junior outside hitter Sydney Yanak who each have 153 on the year. Sophomore setter Caleigh Schroeder averages 8.72 assists per set, while junior libero Teagan Weber leads the team with 3.81 digs per set. 6-foot junior middle hitter Celine Malosa leads the Redhawks with 46 total blocks.

SERIES HISTORY
The Wildcats own a 36-20 record over the Redhawks in a series that dates back to 1997. Daemen has won the last 17 straight matches over Roberts, and topped the Redhawks 3-0 (25-11, 25-16, 27-25) in the last meeting on Sept. 27 at Lumsden Gymnasium.

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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