INDIANA, Pa. — The Daemen University women's volleyball team put together a strong effort in back-to-back five set matches on Friday at the Crimson Hawk Classic hosted by Indiana University (Pennsylvania). The Wildcats finished the first day of the tournament with a pair of victories, defeating Lake Erie 3-2 and West Liberty 3-2. Daemen has now won three straight matches and improved to 3-3 on the year.
DAEMEN 3, LAKE ERIE 2
In the first game of the day, Daemen defeated Lake Erie 3-2 (23-25, 25-23, 25-16, 13-25, 15-9) on Friday at Kovalchick Convention & Athletic Complex. The Wildcats took the lead in the fifth set by moving from a 6-5 deficit to a 10-7 advantage. Junior outside hitter
Avery Craig (Tomball, Tex.) had a career game, totaling 21 kills and 18 digs.
Lake Erie moved ahead in the first set with a 13-6 lead early. The Wildcats worked back from a 15-7 deficit to bring the game to 17-15, with
Audrey Johnson (Mequon, Wisc.),
Payton Gaylor (Bowmanville, Ont.),
Jolie Faw (Williamsburg, Va.) and Craig contributing kills during the comeback. After Lake Erie pushed back in front 20-16, the Wildcats scored four straight points, capped by Johnson's kill from
Molly Ryan (Orchard Park, N.Y.), to tie the set at 20-20. Lake Erie answered with three straight points, and although Ryan's kill and a Lake Erie attack error brought the Wildcats within 24-23, Lake Erie took the first set 25-23.
The Lakers scored the first three points and later led 7-3, but the Wildcats worked back with kills from Ryan and Johnson to tie the set at 9-9. After Lake Erie moved ahead 14-12, Craig put down a kill, a Lake Erie attack error tied it, and Craig's kill, a
Jolie Faw-Ryan block and a
Peyton Lowes ace pushed the Wildcats in front 17-14. Lake Erie tied it up at 18-18, but the Wildcats built on Johnson's kill and later led 22-20 on kills by Gaylor and Amelia Gonzalez (Juana Diaz, P.R.) before Lake Erie drew even at 22-22. Gaylor and Craig followed with kills to give the Wildcats set point at 24-22 and Craig finished the 25-23 set with another kill.
Jolie Faw tied the third set at 5-5 with a kill, and the Wildcats moved in front during Lowes' serve, using a Craig kill, two Lowes aces and a Lake Erie attack error to build a 9-5 lead. After Lake Erie got one point back, the Wildcats added another run with Craig serving, including consecutive aces, to push the margin to 13-6 before Lake Erie answered with three straight points. The Wildcats steadied the set with kills from Ryan and Craig, then later stretched the lead to 20-11 behind a Johnson kill, Craig kill and Johnson ace. Lake Erie pulled within 22-16 late, but Craig and Johnson delivered consecutive kills before
Jolie Faw and Ryan combined on a block to close the Wildcats' 25-16 set win and take a 2-1 set lead.
The Lakers took an early 6-2 advantage and built off the momentum to jump out to 12-3. Daemen put together a run to get to 18-10, but Lake Erie answered and took the fourth set 25-13 to tie the match up and force a fifth.
The Wildcats built a 4-2 lead in the fifth set, but Lake Erie scored the next three points to move in front 5-4. After Gaylor tied it with a kill and Lake Erie went back ahead 6-5, the Wildcats answered with kills from Craig and Ryan and a service ace from Craig to take an 8-6 lead. Lake Erie got back within 8-7 on a Wildcats service error, but
Jolie Faw's kill and a Lake Erie attack error pushed the Wildcats to 10-7 before Ryan added another kill for an 11-7 advantage. The Wildcats finished the set by scoring four of the final five points, with Craig closing the 15-9 win on a kill.
IMPACT PLAYERS
- Craig put together a career-high outing, finishing with 21 kills, 18 digs and three aces to total a team-high 24 points.
- Johnson put together her second double-double of the season with 11 kills and 12 digs while adding two aces.
- Maddie Schamaun (Rockville, Md.) and Peyton Lowes (Northville, Mich.) split setting duties, with the senior totaling 26 assists, six digs and one ace, and the freshman tallying a double-double with 16 assists, 14 digs and three aces.
- Faw continues to dominate at the net, totaling a team-high five total blocks – two solo – and adding five kills.
- Freshman defensive specialist Mollie Berry (Evergreen Park, Ill.) totaled 13 digs.
DAEMEN 3, WEST LIBERTY 2
The Wildcats defeated the Hilltoppers 3-2 (25-16, 21-25, 25-18, 22-25, 15-13) in Friday night's match at the Crimson Hawk Classic. Daemen hit .529 without an attack error in the fifth set and went from trailing 7-8 to leading 12-9 in the deciding set.
The Wildcats scored the first three points of the opening set on a kill from Gaylor, a Schamaun ace and a block by Gonzalez. WLU tied it up, but the Wildcats moved back in front and built an 8-4 lead. Lowes served consecutive aces during a stretch that pushed the margin to 12-6 before Craig, Ryan and Johnson helped extend it to 17-10. West Liberty cut the deficit to 18-14, but the Wildcats closed the set with
Olivia Urbon's (Chicago, Ill.) ace, a Gaylor-
Jolie Faw block, a kill from Gaylor and Craig's final kill for a 25-16 win.
After a back-and-forth start, kills from Johnson and Ryan helped the Wildcats stay in front, and an Urbon ace made it 11-8.
Jolie Faw added a kill and Lowes served up an ace before Craig's kill made it 15-11 and kills by Faw and Gonzalez later kept the Wildcats ahead 18-14. The Hilltoppers answered with five straight points to go up 19-18, but Johnson tied the set at 19-19 and Craig put the Wildcats back ahead 21-20. West Liberty closed with the final five points to take the set 25-21.
The third set stayed within a point until West Liberty went up 10-9, but
Jolie Faw tied it with a kill from Lowes and the Wildcats moved ahead 12-10 on a West Liberty attack error and a Johnson kill from
Jarielys Giraud. Up only one, the Wildcats pushed the margin to 14-11 on another attack error and Johnson's block. The Wildcats led 16-13 when Urbon served four straight points, a stretch that included a block by Craig and Gonzalez and kills by Craig and Gaylor to make it 20-13. Daemen took the set for a 25-18 win.
After a tight start to the fourth, West Liberty later moved in front 13-10, and the Wildcats worked back to tie it at 14-14 before the teams traded points through 17-17. Gaylor served an ace and Craig followed with a kill to put the Wildcats ahead 19-17, but West Liberty answered to take a 21-20 lead. Faw and Gonzalez kills helped the Wildcats even up to 22-22, but West Liberty took the final three points to win the set 25-22.
The Wildcats opened the fifth set with three straight points before West Liberty moved ahead 8-7. Johnson answered with a kill to tie it, Urbon served an ace, and Craig added three kills as the Wildcats moved back in front 12-9. West Liberty closed within 14-13 late, but
Jolie Faw finished the set with a kill to give the Wildcats a 15-13 win.
IMPACT PLAYERS
- Craig capped off an incredible Friday with another team-high performance, totaling 15 kills and chipping in 18 digs for her second straight double-double while adding a block and an ace.
- Gonzalez posted a team-high six blocks – two solo – and added four kills with no errors on nine attempts to hit .444 in the win.
- Faw totaled 10 kills with just one error on 18 attempts to hit at a .500 clip, chipping in four blocks, and four digs.
- Johnson finished with 11 kills, four blocks and two digs on the night.
- Schamaun posted 22 assists, nine digs and one ace.
UP NEXT
Daemen will close out the Crimson Hawk Classic on Saturday with matches against Ashland (11 AM) and IUP (5 PM).
