Molly Ryan set vs. St. Thomas Aquinas on Sept. 28

Women's Volleyball Heads Downstate To Play Queens, Molloy

10/4/2024 1:35:00 PM

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

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
The Daemen University women's volleyball team hits the pavement again this weekend, heading downstate to play at Queens College and Molloy University in a pair of East Coast Conference matches. The Wildcats come into this weekend with a 9-3 overall record and 2-0 record in ECC action. Queens sits at 11-5 overall and 1-0 in ECC while Molloy is 10-4 and 1-0 in conference matches.

LAST WEEKEND
The Wildcats kicked off conference play with a 2-0 weekend, topping Mercy University and St. Thomas Aquinas College with a pair of 3-1 wins. Daemen out-hit Mercy 56 to 29 in the victory and were led offensively by graduate students Abby Ryan (Orchard Park, N.Y.) and Giselle Giraud (Orlando, Fla.) who totaled 15 and 11 kills, respectively. Junior outside hitter Nahirka Malpica (Caguas, P.R.) totaled nine kills, while freshman Payton Gaylor (Bowmanville, Ont.) hit a career-high eight kills on 14 attacks and senior middle Amelia Armstrong (River Falls, Wisc.) posted eight kills to hit at a .500 clip. Senior setter Avery Dole (Summerfield, N.C.) finished with four kills and 29 assists, and graduate student libero Jasmine Brundage (East Aurora, N.Y.) totaled 19 digs and three aces. In Daemen's 3-1 win over STAC on Sunday, nine Wildcats recorded kills while 13 Wildcats saw playing time in the match. Daemen out-hit the Spartans 53 to 35 in the match and finished with 12 aces and nine total blocks. Malpica led the team offensively with 13 kills while Giraud turned in 10 kills. Sophomore middle Amelia González (Juan Diaz, P.R.) posted a season-high nine kills with just two errors. Gaylor and Olivia Urbon (Chicago, Ill.) each totaled six kills, with Urbon posting a career-high 16 digs. Brundage totaled 15 digs in the win.

ECC DOMINANCE
The Wildcats were picked atop the 2024 ECC Preseason Coaches' Poll for the third consecutive year. Winners of the past three straight ECC regular season and tournament titles, Daemen has gone undefeated in conference play for three straight seasons and has a 37-match regular season conference win streak that dates back to Nov. 10, 2019.

STAT CATS
Daemen leads the conference in points (16.96 per set), kills (13.5 per set), assists (12.31 per set), opponent kills (9.13 per set), opponent assists (8.40 per set) and opponent hitting percentage (.147). Daemen players rank in the top-10 across the board. Brundage leads the league in digs with 4.77 digs per set while Ryan ranks second in the ECC with 3.97 kills per set while Giraud is fifth (3.1 per set) and Malpica ranks 10th (2.84 kills/set). Armstrong and Giraud are third and sixth in hitting percentage at .313 and .271, respectively. Dole ranks fourth in the league with 7.72 assists per set, and Armstrong ranks 10th in blocks (0.6 per set). Ryan is second in the league with 4.5 points per set, while Giraud is 10th (3.28).

UP NEXT
The Wildcats have two home matches next week, hosting crosstown rival D'Youville on Thursday (Oct. 10) at 6:30 PM and Wilmington on Friday (Oct. 11) at 7 PM in a non-conference match up.

THE KNIGHTS
Queens is off to their best start in recent history and comes into this weekend's match with a 11-5 overall record and a 1-0 record in ECC action. The Knights are on a four-game win streak right now after beating Holy Family, Georgian Court, Roberts Wesleyan and Pace over the last week. 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 opponent hitting percentage behind only the Wildcats, allowing their opponents to hit just .149 on the year. The Knights are led offensively by 5-foot-11 junior outside hitter Kendall Conrad with 155 kills (2.54/set) and 5-foot-10 freshman right side Madi Hathaway with 142 kills (2.37/set). Queens' libero junior Kendall Conrad ranks second in the ECC behind only Brundage averaging 4.65 digs per set.

SERIES HISTORY
Daemen owns a 17-4 overall record over the Knights and has won the last 11 match ups between the teams.

THE LIONS
Picked third in the ECC preseason poll, Molloy comes into Sunday's match with a 10-4 record while starting conference play 1-0. The Lions have won four straight matches, putting together a 3-0 win over Wilmington and 3-2 wins over Pace and New Haven along with a 3-1 win over Roberts Wesleyan. Molloy is led offensively by ECC Preseason Player of the Year Kiarra Roth who leads the conference with 4.46 kills per set (241 total) and averages 4.93 points per set, adding 24 blocks on the year. Senior setter Julia Zalta leads the league with 0.67 aces/set (31 total) and ranks third in the ECC with 9.15 assists/set. 6-foot junior middle blocker Sara Hiebert is fourth in the league with 0.84 blocks/set and leads the team with 36 total blocks on the year.

SERIES HISTORY
The Wildcats are 20-5 all-time against the Lions and have won nine 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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