NEW CASTLE, Del. – The Daemen University women's volleyball team went a perfect 2-0 on Friday in the first day of the Wildcat Classic hosted by Wilmington University. The Wildcats topped Holy Family 3-1 in a comeback victory in the early morning game and outlasted Saint Anselm 3-2 in another five set thriller in the second game.
DAEMEN 3, HOLY FAMILY 1
The Wildcats overcame a first-set loss and won the final three sets to take down the Tigers 3-1 (20-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-19) in Daemen's first match of the Wildcat Classic. Daemen out-hit Holy Family 55 to 47 while hitting at a .247 clip and holding the Tigers to hit .182. The Cats also outblocked the Tigers nine to three, with six different Daemen players recording blocks in the win.
Holy Family scored the first three points, but the Wildcats pulled even at 3-3 with help from three Holy Family attack errors. The set stayed tight through 10-10, with
Audrey Johnson (Mequon, Wisc.) recording three early kills and
Avery Craig (Tomball, Tex.) and
Jolie Faw (Williamsburg, Va.) adding kills for the Wildcats. The Tigers scored five unanswered points to take a 15-10 advantage, and established a large lead late, 22-15. Daemen cut the lead to two, 22-19, but the Tigers held on to win the first 25-20.
After the teams traded points to 6-6, Holy Family scored four straight before the Wildcats got back within 10-9 on a Johnson kill and a block by Johnson and Amelia Gonzalez (Juana Diaz, P.R.). The Wildcats later went ahead 13-12 on a Holy Family attack error. Trailing 17-14, the Wildcats scored the next four points from there and took an 18-17 lead on
Peyton Lowes' (Northville, Mich.) kill from Johnson.
Maddie Schamaun (Rockville, Md.) posted an ace during a three-point push the game to 22-19, and Craig delivered the Wildcats' final two points on kills to close the set 25-21.
Daemen opened the third set with a 10-7 advantage. Holy Family answered by taking a 16-13 lead before kills by Craig and
Payton Gaylor (Bowmanville, Ont.) brought the set back even at 16-16. The Wildcats trailed 20-18 later in the set, but Gaylor,
Mina Faw (Williamsburg, Va.) and Johnson delivered kills during a 4-1 stretch that put the Wildcats ahead 22-21. Gaylor finished the set with a kill for a 25-23 Wildcats win.
Early on, Gaylor recorded three kills and
Jolie Faw (Williamsburg, Va.) put away a Schamaun set as the Wildcats stretched the lead to 6-2. Holy Family kept it close, but
Jolie Faw answered with a kill and Gonzalez teamed with
Mina Faw on a block to push the margin back to 19-14. With the Wildcats up 23-18,
Jolie Faw put the Wildcats at set point and Schamaun finished the 25-19 set with a kill from Faw to take the match 3-1.
IMPACT PLAYERS
- Gaylor totaled 14 kills along with three blocks and two aces for a team-high 17.5 points.
- Johnson posted a team-tying high 14 kills while hitting .313 and added two assists and two digs.
- Jolie Faw stood strong at the net, recording a team-high six blocks – including two solo – and chipped in eight kills offensively while hitting .583.
- Schamaun paced the Wildcats with 30 assists, adding a team-high four aces and 13 digs for her third straight double-double.
- Craig finished one kill shy of a double-double with 10 digs and nine kills.
DAEMEN 3, SAINT ANSELM 2
The Wildcats overcame a 2-1 set deficit to win the final two sets of the match and take down Saint Anselm 3-2 (22-25, 25-16, 22-25, 25-21, 15-11) in a five-set thriller on Friday evening. Daemen improves to 5-5 on the year. Senior setter
Maddie Schamaun tallied her 1,000 career assist in the victory.
The Wildcats and Hawks played the first set tight, trading points and tying the game up at 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 all. Saint Anselm moved ahead 21-17, but the Wildcats answered with kill from Johnson and two Saint A's attack errors, the second blocked by
Mina Faw and Gonzalez, to get within 21-20. Despite a close ending, the Hawks took the set at 25-22.
The Wildcats built an early 5-1 lead in the second set behind kills from Gaylor, Gonzalez and Johnson, then stayed in front as Saint Anselm worked back within 11-10. Johnson stopped that stretch with a kill and served the Wildcats through seven straight points, including two aces, to push the lead to 19-10. The Hawks ended Daemen's run on a kill, but the Wildcats kept answering sideouts, with Gaylor adding another kill before three Saint Anselm errors moved the set to 24-16. A Saint Anselm attack error on the final rally closed out the Wildcats' 25-16 set win.
Saint Anselm took an early 6-3 lead until the Wildcats cut it to 6-5 on kills by Gaylor and
Jolie Faw, then tied the set at 11-11 on another Faw kill before Gaylor put the Wildcats in front, 12-11. The set stayed level deep, as the Wildcats tied it at 14-14 on a
Jolie Faw-Schamaun block, at 16-16 and 20-20 on Johnson kills, and at 18-18 on a
Mina Faw kill. After the Cats turned it to 20-20, Saint Anselm responded with five of the final seven points to take the third, 25-22.
Saint Anselm scored six straight points early to put the Wildcats behind 7-1. With Daemen back, 13-7 the Wildcats put together an impressive 6-0 run that included kills by Craig and Gaylor and three consecutive Johnson service aces to tie the set at 13-13. After the Hawks took a 19-17 lead, the Wildcats took three of the next four points and going ahead 20-19 on a Johnson kill before Saint Anselm evened it at 20-20. The Wildcats answered with four straight points, including a Schamaun ace and Johnson kill, and Johnson finished the set with a kill for a 25-21 win.
After Saint Anselm scored the first two points, the Wildcats took the next seven, tying the fifth set on an attack error and moving ahead on Gonzalez and Gaylor's block. The Hawks answered with five straight points to help pull even at 7-7, but the Wildcats regained an 8-7 lead on an attack error and went up 9-7. With the Hawks up 9-8, Daemen served up four straight points off a pair of kills from Craig, a kill from
Jolie Faw and an ace from Gaylor. The Hawks closed within 13-10, but Johnson finished the set with a kill for a 15-11 win.
IMPACT PLAYERS
- Johnson totaled team-highs in kills (16) and aces (6) while recording her third double-double of the season with 14 digs.
- Schamaun finished with a team-high 38 assists, marking her 1,000th career assist, and tallied her third straight double-double with 14 digs, adding an ace on the night.
- Craig finished with her fourth double-double of the season with a team-high 19 digs along with 11 kills.
- Freshman defensive specialist Mollie Berry (Evergreen Park, Ill.) totaled 16 digs and added an ace.
- Gaylor tallied 11 kills, seven digs and one ace.
UP NEXT
The Wildcats will face Wilmington (11 AM) and Adelphi (3 PM) in the final day of the Wildcat Classic on Saturday.
