Women's Volleyball To Play Three Matches At Sandy Hoffman Memorial Tournament

9/12/2024 2:30:00 PM

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

TOURNAMENT TIME
The Daemen University women's volleyball team heads northeast to Waltham, Mass. this weekend to play in the Sandy Hoffman Memorial Tournament hosted by Bentley University. The Wildcats will play three matches against regional powerhouse teams over the two day tournament, opening up the weekend with a 4:30 PM match against New Haven on Friday, Sept. 13. Daemen will take on host Bentley in a rematch of the 2023 East Region Championship match on Saturday, Sept. 14 at 1 PM and wrap up the tournament in another rematch of the regional against American International at 3:30 PM on Saturday.

LOOK BACK AT LAST WEEK
The Wildcats opened the 2024 season at the UIndy Volleyball Invitational hosted by the University of Indianapolis last weekend. Daemen went 2-2 with wins against Kentucky Wesleyan and Maryville. Against Kentucky Wesleyan, the Wildcats swept the Panthers, 3-0, and posted .326 (42-12-92) hitting percentage compared to .056 (22-17-89) for Kentucky Wesleyan. Graduate student Giselle Giraud led all hitters with 11 kills on 23 attacks for a .304 hitting percentage in the match while freshman right side Peyton Gaylor (Bowmanville, Ont.) totaled five kills with no errors on 11 attacks for a .455 hitting percentage, adding two block assists in the victory. The next day against Maryville, Daemen found itself down 2-1 in the match but were able to comeback, taking the fourth set, 25-22, and winning the deciding fifth set, 15-9. Giraud (Orlando, Fla.) and fellow graduate student Abby Ryan (Orchard Park, N.Y.) paced the Daemen offense, combining for 31 of the Wildcats' 65 kills. Giraud put down 18 kills to lead all players, and attacked at a .395 clip. Ryan tallied 13 kills and added a season-high 23 digs.

REGIONAL MATCH UPS
It will be a clash of some of the East Region's best this weekend as all four teams playing in the Sandy Hoffman Memorial Tournament advanced to the 2023 NCAA East Region Tournament, and each game in the tournament will be a rematch from 2023. The Wildcats topped New Haven 3-0 last season in the Adelphi Volleyball Tournament early in September. Daemen would not see AIC or Bentley until regionals, though, and opened up the tournament with a tough match up against the No. 4 seeded Yellowjackets. The Wildcats topped AIC, 3-1, in the regional quarterfinals, and after taking down host and No. 1 seed Adelphi in the semifinals, Daemen squared up against No. 3 seed Bentley in the Regional Final match. Daemen cruised through the first set, 25-12, but the Falcons would stave off the Wildcats in each of the final three sets, beating Daemen by four points, two points and two points to take the Regoinal Championship, 3-1, and advance to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight.

TOP OF THE POLLS
The Wildcats were picked to finish first in the 2024 ECC Preseason Coaches' Poll for the third consecutive year after the Wildcats took home their third straight ECC regular season and tournament titles. Daemen earned four of a possible seven first-place votes and totaled 45 points to top the preseason poll for the fourth time since 2019. Mercy University collected two first place votes and finished second in the poll with 40 points. Molloy University picked up the final first-place vote and landed third in the poll with 36 points. Queens College (26), St. Thomas Aquinas College (20), D'Youville University (19) and Roberts Wesleyan University (10) round out the poll.

WELCOME BACK
Daemen returns 10 players from last season, including 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 Giselle Giraud (Orlando, Fla.). Playing in her fifth year at Daemen, Brundage is coming off a career year in which she led the league with 557 digs and 5.21 digs/set. The 5-foot-5 graduate student libero had 13 matches with at least 20 digs, including a season-high 34 in the regional championship match against Bentley and recorded her 1,000th career dig last season. Giraud returns for her third season as a Wildcat after posting a breakout year in 2023 in which she earned All-ECC honors for the first time. The 5-foot-11 right side started in 30 of Daemen's 32 matches and ranked second in the conference in hitting percentage (.361) and seventh in kills per set (3.13) while tallying 332 kills on the year. The Wildcats also welcome back senior middle Amelia Armstrong (River Falls, Wisc.) who ranked first on the team and seventh in the league with 0.73 blocks per set in 2023 and finished second on the team in total blocks (55) while contributing 125 kills. Senior right side Kate Ryan (Buffalo, N.Y.) had a breakout junior campaign where she posted a career-high 134 kills and finished with a .253 hitting percentage on the year. The Wildcats lost four starters from the 2023 season to graduation, setters Olivia Alessi and Dunja Masic, outside hitter Maggie Burns and middle blocker Vanessa Kuliga, along with 2023 ECC Rookie of the Year Charlotte Koerber who transferred after the season ended.

NEW FACES
The 2024 Daemen squad features seven newcomers, including two transfers with Division I experience. Outside hitter Abby Ryan (Orchard Park, N.Y.) comes to Daemen as a graduate student after playing four years of undergrad women's volleyball for Robert Morris where she appeared in 272 total sets over 83 matches and finished with 779 kills (2.86 kills/set), 42 aces, 546 digs (2.01 digs/set) and 47 blocks over four years. Setter Avery Dole (Summerfield, N.C.) transferred over from Canisius where she played in 27 matches over three seasons and totaled 441 assists (5.88 assists/set) and 147 digs (1.96 per set). Dole played in nine matches in 2023 and totaled 240 assists. (8.57/set). Irizarry brought in five freshmen in outside hitter Avery Craig (Tomball, Texas), defensive specialist Jarielys Giraud (Orlando, Fla.), middle hitter Vera Tops (Senigallia, Italy), outside hitter Olivia Urbon (Chicago, Ill.) and right side Payton Gaylor (Bowmanville, Ont.). With all-conference outside hitters Maggie Burns graduating and Charlotte Koerber transferring, the race for who will fill those spots is wide open for the newcomers this upcoming season

UP NEXT
The road test continues for the Wildcats next weekend! Daemen will travel to Indiana, Pa. to play in the Crimson Hawk Classic hosted by IUP where they will face Shepherd, Elizabeth City State and Pitt-Johnstown over Sept. 20-21.

THE CHARGERS (0-3)
In an up and down 2023 season, New Haven posted a 23-10 overall record and cruised through the Northeast-10 Tournament to win the program's seventh NE10 Championship with a 3-1 win over host Adelphi. The Chargers went on to fall to Mercy, 3-1, in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division II East Region Tournament. New Haven comes into the Sandy Hoffman Memorial Tournament with an X-X overall record after playing in the Courtyard by Marriott Tampa Volleyball Classic last weekend. Seven players return from last season's team, including 2023 NE10 Player of the Year and D2CCA East Region Player of the Year Macy Brown who totaled 445 kills (3.74 kills/set) and 410 digs (3.45 digs/set) a season ago. Brown also earned AVCA Honorable Mention All-America honors. 2023 NE-10 All-Rookie team member Peyton Mast returns for her sophomore season after tallying 241 kills, 36 aces, 36 blocks and 202 digs.

SERIES RECORD
Daemen is 2-3 all-time against the Chargers but won the last match up between the two teams in a 3-0 victory at the Adelphi Volleyball Tournament on Sept. 16, 2023.

THE FALCONS (1-3)
Bentley put together an outstanding 2023 campaign that ended with a 25-7 overall record in the NCAA Division II Elite Eight. The Falcons fell to New Haven in the NE-10 semifinals but topped Southern New Hampshire (3-2), Mercy (3-1) and Daemen (3-1) in the regional tournament to take home their first ever East Region championship in 2023. Bentley comes into their host tournament with an X-X overall record after opening the season at the Dallas Baptist Tournament last weekend. The Falcons return 14 players from their regional championship team but are without their top two hitters in Ingrid Murphy (311 kills in '23) and Ellie Wheeler (296 kills) who were lost to graduation. Outside hitters Caitlin Wunder (227 kills in '23) and Rachel Vitko (262 kills) each return for the Falcons this season along with Bentley's top blocker Elizabeth Blinn who tallied 135 blocks a season ago.

SERIES RECORD
The Wildcats are 3-2 over Bentley all-time, but dropped last season's regional championship match, 1-3.

THE YELLOWJACKETS (0-3)
Perennial powerhouse American International is back on Daemen's schedule for the fourth straight season and ninth time overall. As the No. 5 seed in the East Regional tournament last season, the Wildcats took down the No. 4 seeded Yellowjackets, 3-1, in the regional quarterfinals to mark Daemen's third program win over AIC and second win over the Yellowjackets in the East Region tournament. 11 players return for the Yellowjackets from last season's team that posted a 16-11 overall record. Outside hitter Paola Soto Burgos returns for her graduate season after leading AIC with 271 kills (2.74 kills/set) in 2023. 6-foot-2 senior middle blocker Aleksandra Ivanovic (227 kills, 97 blocks) is back after a successful season as AIC's lead blocker. The Yellowjackets come into the Sandy Hoffman Memorial Tournament with an X-X overall record after playing in the Florida Southern tournament last weekend.

SERIES RECORD
The Wildcats are 3-5 all-time against AIC and hold the last victory in the match up with a 3-1 win over the Yellowjackets in the 2023 East Region Quarterfinals.

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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