AMHERST, N.Y. – In a battle between two Wildcats, the Daemen University women's volleyball team rebounded from Thursday's loss with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-11, 25-18) win over Wilmington University on Friday night in a non-conference match. With the win, DU improves to 11-5 on the year while Wilmington drops to 9-10 overall.
Daemen was electric offensively tonight, out-hitting Wilmington 46 to 20, marking the fewest kills the Wildcats allowed all season. Daemen finished with their highest hitting percentage of the season at .337 and held Wilmington to a .041 hitting percentage. It also marked the fifth time a Daemen opponent hit under .100 this season.
Seven Wildcats recorded kills in the victory and two finished with double-digit kills, with junior outside hitter
Nahirka Malpica (Caguas, P.R.) leading all players with 13 kills and graduate student
Giselle Giraud (Orlando, Fla.) totaling 11 kills for the Wildcats.
Daemen will travel to Rochester, N.Y. next Wednesday, Oct. 16 to wrap up the first half of East Coast Conference play at Roberts Wesleyan University in a 7 PM match.
IMPACT PLAYERS
- Malpica finished with 13 kills and just two errors on 28 attacks for a .393 hitting percentage, adding eight digs, two aces and one block assist for a team high 15.5 points tonight.
- Giraud posted 11 kills with five errors on 25 attacks to hit at a .240 clip. She added three aces, two assists, two digs and one block assist to her stat line.
- Senior middle Amelia Armstrong (River Falls, Wisc.) finished with nine kills on 13 assists for a .615 hitting percentage, adding three block assists, one dig and one assist.
- Freshman right side Payton Gaylor (Bowmanville, Ont.) totaled six kills with just one error on eight attacks for a .625 clip and added three digs on the night.
- Senior Avery Dole (Summerfield, N.C.) and sophomore Molly Ryan (Orchard Park, N.Y.) split setting duties today, with Dole posting a double-double with 22 assists and 11 digs and adding three aces and a kill, while Ryan totaled 15 assists and two digs.
- Freshman outside hitter Avery Craig (Tomball, Tex.) posted a team-high 18 digs and added five kills, two block assists and one assist on the night.
- Graduate student libero Jasmine Brundage (East Aurora, N.Y.) finished with 11 digs and three assists.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Both Daemen and Wilmington traded points to open the first, but after being tied up at 10, DU went on a 9-4 run to take a 20-14 lead and held on, topping the WilmU Wildcats 20-17. Daemen out-hit Wilmington 18-8 for a .405 hitting percentage in the first and were led offensively by Giraud, Malpica and Armstrong who each tallied four kills.
- Daemen scored 10 unanswered points to kick off the second set off four Wildcat kills and three aces by Dole. The Wildcats would give up just 11 points in the second, four of those coming in the final six points of the set, to win 25-11. Daemen tallied 15 kills and allowed just three in the set. Giraud and Malpica each had five kills in the second.
- Daemen led by as much as 14-7 in the third, but a 7-1 run from Wilmington brought the game within one, 16-15. The Wildcats finished off the match with a 9-3 run off seven DU kills to take the third set, 25-18.
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.
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