Olivia Urbon passes a ball against Clarion

Geoff Schneider

Wildcat Regional Invitational On Tap For Women's Volleyball

9/18/2025 10:55:00 AM

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

FINAL TOURNAMENT
The Daemen University women's volleyball team heads to New Castle, Delaware this weekend, Sept. 19-20, to play in the Wildcat Regional Invitational hosted by Wilmington University. Daemen will play four matches over the two-day tournament against East Region opponents from the Northeast-10 Conference and Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference. The Wildcats open the tournament on Friday, Sept. 19 with a 9 AM match against Holy Family of the CACC and will conclude the day with a 3 PM match against Franklin Pierce of the NE-10. On Saturday, Daemen will face Adelphi (NE-10) at 11 AM and host Wilmington (CACC) in a 3 PM match up.

LAST WEEKEND
The Wildcats are hungry for wins this weekend after going 0-3 at last week's home Wildcat Classic presented by Ellicott Hotels. Daemen opened the two-day home tournament with a heartbreaking five-set loss, 2-3, to Clarion on Friday night in a very back-and-forth match that featured 97 total kills between the two teams. Clarion's 14 blocks (compared to Daemen's 9) and Daemen's 37 attack errors (compared to Clarion's 22) ended up being the difference makers in the match. Senior outside hitter Nahirka Malpica (Caguas, P.R.) led the Wildcats with 15 kills and 20 digs while freshman outside hitter Keira Mullen (Farmingdale, N.J.) chipped in 14 kills and three blocks. Sophomore libero Jarielys Giraud (Orlando, Fla.) posted a career-high 28 digs on the back row. In day two of the Wildcat Classic, Daemen faced tough competition and fell 1-3 to Dallas Baptist in the first match of the day. The Wildcats out-hit DBU 54 to 46 in the match but 31 attack errors (17 for DBU) and the Patriots' 10 aces and 10 blocks sealed the deal for DBU. Malpica posted a team-high 21 kills against the Patriots while hitting at a season-high .302 clip in her third double-double of the season (20 digs) while sophomores Avery Craig (Tomball, Tex.) and Payton Gaylor (Bowmanville, Ont.) each chipped in nine kills. Giraud posted 16 digs. In their final match of the weekend, the Wildcats were upended 0-3 by Wayne State. The Warriors out-hit Daemen 36 to 27 on the night. Malpica led Daemen with eight kills on 24 attacks while Gaylor and freshman Nicole Giardina (Midland, Mich.) each totaled four kills for the Cats.

FINAL TOURNAMENT
Daemen, who comes into the Wildcat Regional Invitational this weekend with a 2-5 overall record, is playing in their final tournament of the regular season. The Cats opened the 2025 season under new head coach Kaysie Shebeneck with four tough matches against stiff competition in the Ashland University Invitational in Ashland, Ohio on Sept. 6-7 where they went 2-2 on the weekend. Hosting three teams from regions across the country this past weekend at the Wildcat Classic presented by Ellicott Hotels, Daemen hosted Dallas Baptist (Lone Star Conference), Clarion (PSAC) and Wayne State (GLIAC). This upcoming weekend's tournament will feature teams from all three conferences in the East Region.

PRESEASON POLL POSITION
Winners of the past four ECC regular season titles, the Wildcats were voted third in the 2025 ECC Preseason Coaches Poll. Mercy University (40 points) led the league in the preseason poll, followed by 2024 ECC Tournament winners D'Youville University (38 points) and Daemen (37 points). Queens College follows closely in fourth place with 36 points. Molloy University (19) and Roberts Wesleyan University (19) are tied for fifth, and St. Thomas Aquinas College (7) rounds out the poll in seventh place.

UP NEXT
The Wildcats will open East Coast Conference play next weekend with a pair of home matches against Molloy (Saturday, Sept. 27) and Queens (Sunday, Sept. 28).

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 X and Instagram at @DaemenWVB.

Print Friendly Version