Women's Volleyball | 8/26/2024 4:50:00 PM
AMHERST, N.Y. -- The Daemen University women's volleyball team opens the 2024 season on Friday, Sept. 6 at the University of Indianapolis Invitational where they will take on Indiana University (Pennsylvania) at 9 AM as the first of four matches over the weekend. Coming off their third consecutive East Coast Conference regular season and tournament title, the Wildcats were selected the top team in the 2024 ECC Preseason Coaches' Poll for the third year in a row. Ahead of the season opener, seniors
Giselle Giraud (Orlando, Fla.),
Kate Ryan (Buffalo, N.Y.) and
Avery Dole (Summerfield, N.C.) spoke about the 2024 squad and their expectations for the year.
"Obviously since we've won the back-to-back-to-back East Coast Conference championships, there are targets on our backs, but that just means that we can't let ourselves be comfortable with our competition, so we're setting a high standard all the time when we're playing and just making sure that we never set our bar low," Giraud said.
"There's a bunch of core values that we really talk about, one of them being controlling our controllables, so that's our energy and our effort and using that throughout the season to win big matches," Dole said.
The Wildcats finished the 2023 season with an NCAA Division II-era (2015-present) record for wins with a 26-6 overall record. After winning the conference tournament, Daemen advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament for the sixth season where they made a splash in the East Regional as the No. 5 seed. The Wildcats upset No. 4 American International with a 3-1 final, and faced top-seed and host Adelphi in the regional semifinal where Daemen cruised to a fantastic 3-1 victory to punch their ticket back to the regional final for the third time in program history. The Wildcats fell to No. 3 Bentley, 1-3, in the regional championship match in a tough fought match, dropping the three sets by four points or less. This year, Daemen is coming into the season using the experience from last fall and with higher expectations.
"I want to get farther than we did last year, and even with the freshmen coming into this team, we have some good pin hitters that have good potential," Giraud said. "I'm just really excited that we can even get farther this year, that's our goal, and I just think we have a great team this year."
"I think it's just motivation. We want to get farther than we did last year and that just pushes us forward. We know what to expect with a lot of the remaining girls from past seasons. I think it just helps us know what to do going forward and then to help our newcomers who are going to be stepping on the court because there's a lot of new faces that are going to be on the court this year, so I think we can help them as a team too," Ryan.
Daemen returns 10 players from last season, including the 2023 ECC Libero of the Year and AVCA honorable mention All-America honoree
Jasmine Brundage (East Aurora, N.Y.) and First Team All-ECC right side hitter Giraud. Head coach
Eli Irizarry brought in seven newcomers to the team, including two transfers with Division I experience.
"I definitely think that the older girls and me and Abby who have Division I experience, really push each other. We set the standard really high and we all work really hard. The seniors and Abby and myself all push each other really hard and want to compete at the highest level possible," Dole said.
"All the seniors have a really tight bond which is really nice. Having the addition of Avery and
Abby Ryan is so awesome, they have such great experience and bring a really important part to our team, just the competitiveness and the drive they have. The seniors have been working really hard to develop leadership skills. Over the spring we all really connected and worked on ways we could build the team stronger and I think we did a really good job and started and established really good things from the beginning this season," Ryan said.
The Wildcats open the year with three consecutive road tournaments throughout the month of September beginning with the UIndy Invitational (Sept. 6-7) where they will play four matches. The Wildcats will participate in the Sandy Hoffman Memorial Tournament hosted by Bentley (Sept. 13-14) for three matches, including a rematch of the 2023 East Region Final against the Falcons. Daemen then plays at the Crimson Hawk Classic (Sept. 20-21) hosted by Indiana University of Pennsylvania to play three matches.
"A lot of the teams we're playing in the first three weekends of the tournaments are top regionally ranked teams so those games are really important to not only boost our regional ranking but to get some good competition before conference play because that's where we're going to really set the standard and see where we need to improve," Dole said.
"Obviously that's something that will set our standards really high with the competition, and for our team to know what works best for us. That's something really exciting for us too because we're going to see for the start of our level for what we can do and we're going to continue to get better throughout the season," Giraud said.
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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