Jarielys Giraud and Maddie Schamaun celebrate a point

Kirkland Photography

Crimson Hawk Classic Up Next For Women's Volleyball

9/3/2026 3:41:00 PM

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

TOURNAMENT TIME
The Daemen University women's volleyball team hits the road to Indiana, Pa. to play four matches in the Crimson Hawk Classic hosted by IUP this weekend. The Wildcats will face Lake Erie at 1 PM and close out Friday, Sept. 4 with a 5 PM match against West Liberty. On Saturday, Daemen will take on Ashland at 11 AM and close out the tournament against the hosts IUP at 5 PM.

LAST WEEK
The Wildcats come into the Crimson Hawk Classic with a 1-3 record after playing in the Tony Banner Memorial Tournament in Clarion, Pa. last weekend. The Wildcats fell (0-3) in their season opener to Shippensburg then dropped a pair of five set heartbreakers, 2-3, to host Clarion on Friday night and Franklin Pierce on Saturday morning. Daemen rebounded with a 3-0 victory over West Virginia Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon to pick up their first win of the year.

STAT CATS
Four Wildcats tallied 20+ kills last weekend. Daemen was led both offensively and defensively by sophomore middle blocker Jolie Faw (Williamsburg, Va.) who totaled 30 kills while hitting at a .232 clip and added 24 blocks (1.5/set). Faw posted multi-block games in all four matches at the tournament. Senior outside hitter/setter Molly Ryan (West Seneca, N.Y.) was named to the All-Tournament Team for her all-around performance after finishing with 23 kills, 49 assists, 39 digs, nine blocks and six aces, adding two double-doubles (assists-digs) on the weekend. Freshman outside hitter Audrey Johnson (Mequon, Wisc.) totaled 29 kills and 27 over four matches. Johnson tallied her first career double-double with 14 kills and 11 digs against FPU. Junior libero Jarielys Giraud (Orlando, Fla.) chipped in 64 digs (4.0/set), totaling a season-high 28 against Franklin Pierce on Saturday.

BLOCK PARTY
Daemen was big at the net at the Tony Banner Memorial Invitational last weekend, totaling 41 blocks for an ECC-leading 2.56 blocks per set. Eight Wildcats combined to total 3 solo blocks and 76 block assists, with three Daemen players already totaling double-digit blocks so far. Jolie Faw leads the Cats at the net with 24 blocks for a conference-high 1.5 blocks per set followed by Amelia Gonzalez (Juana Diaz, P.R.) with 14 blocks to average 1.0 blocks/set. Junior right side Payton Gaylor (Bowmanville, Ont.) added 10 blocks over the weekend (0.63/set). The Wildcats have posted a league-high 13 total blocks twice already this season (vs. Clarion and vs. Franklin Pierce), and Daemen owns the top five single-game block numbers in the ECC, led by Faw's eight blocks vs. FPU (#1 in the ECC), seven blocks vs. Clarion (#2), Gonzalez's six vs. Clarion (T#3), Mina Faw (Williamsburg, Va.)'s six vs. Clarion (T#3) and Jolie Faw's six vs. West Virginia Wesleyan (T#3).

UP NEXT
The Wildcats will play their final tournament of the season next weekend against East Region foes at the Wildcat Invitational in Wilmington, Del. hosted by Wilmington University. Daemen will face Holy Family (9 AM) and Saint Anselm (3 PM) on Friday, Sept. 11 and Adelphi (11 AM) and Wilmington (3 PM) on Saturday, Sept. 12.

SCOUTING LAKE ERIE
After putting together an 11-18 overall record and a disappointing 4-12 record in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference in 2025, Lake Erie opened up the 2026 campaign with a 1-2 weekend at their home Storm Classic, capping off the weekend with a win over Point Park for first year head coach Hannah Zuchowski's first career victory. A pair of junior pins Allison Kirch (50 total kills, 4.17/set) and Sadie Nawrocki (40 total kills, 3.33/set) lead the Storm through three matches. The Wildcats are 2-3 all-time against the Storm but won the last meeting (3-1) in 2023.

SCOUTING WEST LIBERTY
West Liberty is coming off an 18-13 season in 2025 that ended in the Mountain East tournament after going 10-4 in MEC regular season play. The Hilltoppers have a 1-3 record coming into the Crimson Hawk Classic after dropping matches to Saginaw Valley State, Indianapolis and Walsh but beating Thomas More (3-2) last weekend at the University of Indianapolis Invitational. WLU averaged 9.6 kills per set in the Indy tournament, led by the stellar performance of sophomore outside hitter Amira DuPree who totaled 40 kills and 58 digs on the weekend, with 37 of her kills coming in the final three matches. Daemen owns a 3-1 series record over WLU and beat the Hilltoppers 3-1 last season at the Ashland Invitational.

SCOUTING ASHLAND
The Wildcats and Eagles meet for the second straight season this weekend. Ashland, who put together a 13-14 overall record and 8-8 record in GMAC action in 2025, has opened up this season on a 3-0 run after last weekend's Findlay Classic in which Ashland swept two out of their three matches. The Eagles average 17 kills per set while hitting .305 on the season so far and hit by committee, with six different players totaling double-digit kills this season. Sophomore outside hitter Jenna Shedden leads the Eagles with 49 kills (4.9/set) while junior outside hitter Sara Krizsa has 34 kills (3.4/set) on the year. This will be the second time the Wildcats and Eagles meet on the court, with Ashland topping Daemen 3-0 last season.

SCOUTING IUP
The Crimson Hawks are coming off an impressive 2025 campaign in which they went 23-9 overall, 9-5 in PSAC play, and advanced to the Sweet 16 where they fell to Gannon in the Atlantic Region Final. IUP is 2-3 on the year in 2026, picking up wins against Northwood and Wayne State at the Wayne State Invitational last weekend. Averaging 13 kills per set this season, the Crimson Hawks have three players with 50+ kills -- senior outside Delaney Concannon (56 total, 2.67/set), junior right side Jessica Neiman (52 total, 2.48/set) and sophomore right side Sammy Stephens (51 total, 2.43/set), who also leads IUP with 16 total blocks alongside junior middle blocker Charlotte Potvin. The Crimson Hawks are 3-1 all-time against Daemen and won last season's match up at the Ashland Invitational.

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