Molly Ryan sets up for a play against Wilmington

Geoff Schneider

Women's Volleyball Hosts Queens, Molloy This Weekend

10/31/2024 1:25:00 PM

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

HOME STRETCH
The Daemen University women's volleyball team returns to Lumsden Gymnasium this weekend for a pair of big East Coast Conference matches. The Wildcats will host the current ECC leaders Queens College on Saturday in a noon match up, then will take on Molloy University in an 11 AM match on Sunday morning. Daemen comes into the weekend with a 13-6 overall record and a 5-2 record in conference play. Queens, who beat the Wildcats earlier in the season to hand them their first conference loss since 2019, the Knights come in at 16-7 on the year and 6-1 in ECC action. Molloy is 12-9 overall and 3-4 in the ECC.

LAST WEEK
The Wildcats have dropped just two conference games this season, against Queens and D'Youville, and they got revenge against the Saints last Thursday in their second meeting of the season. Daemen topped D'Youville 3-1 (21-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-23) on the road to rebound from their loss to the crosstown rivals on Oct. 10. In the 12 matches played over 25 years between these two teams, the Wildcats have never lost at D'Youville, winning six straight road matches at D'Youville's Saints Center. Daemen junior outside hitter Nahirka Malpica (Caguas, P.R.) led all players with 13 kills on 34 swings and added seven digs, totaling double-digit kills for the fourth straight match and 12th match of the year. Graduate student right side Giselle Giraud (Orlando, Fla.) finished with 12 kills on 36 swings, while freshman outside hitter Avery Craig (Tomball, Tex.) hit nine kills and had a team-tying high 17 digs along with three aces. Freshman right side Payton Gaylor (Bowmanville, Ont.) and senior middle Amelia Armstrong (River Falls, Wisc.) each tallied eight kills and two block assists. Senior setter Avery Dole (Summerfield, Wisc.) finished with 29 assists, two aces, three digs and one kill. Sophomore setter Molly Ryan (Orchard Park, N.Y.) totaled 18 assists, two aces, nine digs and one kill. Graduate student libero Jasmine Brundage (East Aurora, N.Y.) totaled 16 digs, five assists and two aces on the night.

ECC STANDINGS
All seven teams in the ECC are in the second half of conference play. As it stands, Queens sits atop the league with a 6-1 record, while Daemen is a game back from the Knights at 5-2. D'Youville and Mercy are tied for third in the league at 4-3. Molloy is fifth (3-4) while Roberts Wesleyan (2-4) and St. Thomas Aquinas College (0-7) are the final two teams in the league. The top four teams make it into the ECC Championship Tournament, held at the highest seed on Nov. 22-23.

STAT CATS
Daemen leads the conference in points (17.05/set),assists (12.27/set), kills (13.31/set), aces (2.36/set), opponent kills (9.47/set), opponent assists (8.64/set) and opponent service aces (1.84/set). Several Wildcats rank in the top-10 statistically in the ECC. Armstrong ranks third in the league in hitting percentage (.299) while Giraud is fifth (.259). Graduate student Abby Ryan (Orchard Park, N.Y.) is second in the ECC in kills (3.72/set), Malpica ranks fifth (3.07/set) and Giraud is seventh (2.92/set). Dole ranks fifth in the league in assists (7.01/set) and third in aces (0.56/set). Brundage is second in the ECC in digs (4.47/set) while Malpica is ninth (2.90/set) and fifth in the league in points (3.63/set). Ryan ranks second in the ECC in points (4.33/set).

UP NEXT
The Wildcats will travel downstate to play at Mercy and St. Thomas Aquinas next weekend (Nov. 9-10).

THE KNIGHTS
Queens is in the middle of their best season in recent history and comes into this weekend's match with a 16-7 overall record and sit atop the conference with a 6-1 record in ECC action. The Knights snapped Daemen's 37-match regular season conference win streak in the first meeting between the two teams, winning the final three sets to take down Daemen 3-1 on Oct. 5. Queens, who was picked fourth in the conference preseason poll after playing in the ECC Tournament for the past two seasons, rank second in the ECC in blocks (1.81/set) and lead the league in opponent hitting percentage (1.37) and digs (17.03/set). The Knights are led offensively by 5-foot-11 junior outside hitter Kendall Conrad with 221 kills (2.63/set) and 5-foot-10 freshman right side Madi Hathaway with 193 kills (2.44/set). The Wildcats held Conrad to just six kills in the first meeting, but Hathaway totaled 10 kills on 26 swings. Queens' junior libero Sarah Munn leads the league with 4.62 digs per set and totaled 22 digs against the Wildcats in the Oct. 5 match.

SERIES HISTORY
Daemen owns a 17-5 overall record over the Knights. Queens snapped Daemen's 11-match win streak in the first meeting.

THE LIONS
Picked third in the ECC preseason poll, Molloy comes into Sunday's match with a 12-9 record while starting conference play 3-4. Since their first meeting with the Wildcats on Oct. 6, Molloy has lost five of their last six matches. The Lions are led offensively by ECC Preseason Player of the Year Kiarra Roth who leads the conference with 4.28 kills per set (347 total) and averages a league-high 4.73 points per set, adding 32 blocks on the year. Senior setter Julia Zalta is third in the league with 8.99 assists/set and is fifth in the ECC in aces (0.55/set, 40 total). 6-foot junior middle blocker Sara Hiebert is fourth in the league with 0.83 blocks/set and leads the team with 43 total blocks on the year.

SERIES HISTORY
The Wildcats are 21-5 all-time against the Lions and have won 10 straight matches over Molloy.

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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