AMHERST, N.Y. — The Daemen University women's volleyball team defeated D'Youville University 3-2 (17-25, 25-23, 24-26, 28-26, 15-9) on Wednesday at Lumsden Gymnasium. The Wildcats trailed 18-23 in the fourth set before moving ahead 24-23, then finished the match by taking the fourth 28-26 and the fifth 15-9. Daemen out-blocked D'Youville 11-7 in the win while serving up 13 aces to DYU's 8. With the win, Daemen improves to 13-10 overall and 5-4 in East Coast Conference play, while moving D'Youville to 13-12 and 6-3 in conference action.
D'Youville went on an early run to move ahead 7-3 in the first set, and from there scored seven straight to jump to a 14-4 advantage. The Wildcats later used a block by
Mina Faw (Williamsburg, Va.) and
Jolie Faw (Williamsburg, Va.), an ace from
Peyton Lowes (Northville, Mich.) and a Saints attack error to close to 19-11, but D'Youville stayed in front and took the set 25-17.
Daemen and D'Youville played to a 5-5 tie early, and after a
Jolie Faw kill, a bad set and a block by
Mina Faw and
Etana Murray (Binghamton, N.Y.) put the Wildcats up 8-6. The teams traded points through 14-14 before the Wildcats scored on a block by Murray and
Mina Faw and
Avery Craig (Tomball, Tex.) added a kill for a 16-14 edge. The Wildcats pushed back to 19-16 after a kill by
Mina Faw and two D'Youville attack errors, but the Saints scored the next four points to move ahead 20-19.
Payton Gaylor (Bowmanville, Ont.) tied it at 20-20, and the Wildcats took four of the next six points — with kills by Craig,
Jolie Faw and
Mina Faw — to reach 24-22 before closing the set 25-23 on a service error.
Down 11-2 to start the third, Daemen worked back into the set with aces from Craig and
Maddie Schamaun (Rockville, Md.), a Gaylor kill, and a Murray-
Olivia Urbon (Chicago, Ill.) block, then moved within 14-13 after Urbon added a kill and an ace. Craig's kill and an ace from
Vera Tops (Senigallia, Italy) later tied the set at 15-15. The Saints pushed back ahead 22-17 until the Wildcats fought off set point from 24-20 to tie it at 24-24, including an Urbon kill and a Murray-
Mina Faw block, but a late Saints kill and a Wildcat error gave D'Youville the set, 26-24, to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
The Wildcats led 14-12 after a
Jolie Faw-Urbon block, but D'Youville answered with seven straight points to move ahead 19-14. Kills by Urbon and Murray brought the Wildcats within 19-17, but the Saints pushed back to 23-17 on two kills and two Wildcats attack errors. After a service error made it 23-18, Urbon served six straight Wildcats points, a stretch that included kills by
Molly Ryan (Orchard Park, N.Y.) and Craig to put the Wildcats up 24-23. D'Youville tied it at 24-24 and the teams traded points until
Mina Faw's kill gave the Wildcats a 27-26 lead;
Jolie Faw and Urbon then combined on the block that finished the set 28-26.
D'Youville scored the first three points of the fifth set, but the Wildcats pulled even at 3-3 with a Craig kill, a block by Ryan and Schamaun, and a D'Youville attack error. After the Saints moved back in front 6-5, the Wildcats scored four straight points, getting two Urbon kills around a
Mina Faw kill and a
Jolie Faw ace to go ahead 9-6. D'Youville cut the margin to 9-8, but Murray answered with a kill and the Wildcats followed with consecutive blocks involving Murray, Ryan and Urbon to move ahead 12-8. The Wildcats closed the set with three of the final four points, including another Craig kill and a Murray-Ryan block on the final point, to take the set 15-9.
IMPACT PLAYERS
- Jolie Faw posted a season-tying high 10 kills on 19 attacks to hit .316 in the win, adding three block assists, two digs and one ace.
- Craig hit 10 kills with just two errors to post a .320 percentage along with a team-high four aces and seven digs.
- Recording a kill in the third straight match, Urbon totaled a season-high 9 kills along with a season-high 14 digs on the night, adding two aces and a season-high four blocks.
- Murray led the Wildcats at the net with seven blocks, adding four kills and two digs.
- Schamaun finished with 17 assists, eight digs, one block and one ace.
- Ryan played in the final three sets of the match and totaled 11 assists, chipping in three kills, one ace and three blocks, including the game winner.
UP NEXT
The Wildcats travel to Rochester, N.Y. on Sunday, Nov. 1 to play at Roberts Wesleyan in a 12 PM match.
