INDIANA, Pa. – The Daemen University women's volleyball team battled a pair of tough teams in the final day of the Crimson Hawk Classic on Saturday, falling to Ashland (0-3) and IUP (1-3) to close out the tournament with a 2-2 record.
DAEMEN 0, ASHLAND 3
The Wildcats fell to Ashland 0-3 (20-25, 22-25, 20-25) in the first of two matches on Saturday at the Crimson Hawk Classic. After a pair of big hitting five-set performances on Friday, Daemen finished with just 22 kills and a .080 hitting percentage, compared with 48 kills and a .274 mark for the Eagles.
Ashland controlled the early part of the first set, jumping out to a 15-5 lead. The Wildcats worked back into the set with points from
Jolie Faw (Williamsburg, Va.),
Mina Faw (Williamsburg, Va.) and
Audrey Johnson (Mequon, Wisc.), then used an
Olivia Urbon (Chigago, Ill.) ace and an Ashland setting error to get within 19-15. After the Eagles made it 20-15, Amelia Gonzalez (Juana Diaz, P.R.) and
Avery Craig (Tomball, Tex.) added kills around an Ashland attack error to pull the Wildcats within 20-18, but Ashland took four of the next five points and closed the set 25-20.
The Wildcats built a 4-1 lead in the second set on kills by Gonzalez and
Payton Gaylor (Bowmanville, Ont.) and a
Mollie Berry (Evergreen Park, Ill.) service ace, but Ashland answered with four straight points to move ahead 5-4. The teams traded points through a series of ties, with the Wildcats pulling even at 15-15 before Ashland edged in front and turned an 18-17 lead into a 22-17 advantage. After the Eagles reached 24-19, the Wildcats took the next three points on an Ashland attack error, a bad set and a
Jolie Faw block to get within 24-22. A kill gave Ashland the 25-22 second set win.
Ashland took a 9-2 advantage early on, but Daemen put together a string of kills and aces to bring the game within two, 12-10. The middle of the set carried to 18-15 with Ashland in front and later pushed the lead to 21-15. The Wildcats got back within 22-19 on a Gaylor kill and an Ashland attack error, but the Eagles closed out the set, 25-20.
IMPACT PLAYERS
- Johnson led the Wildcats offensively with six kills and added one ace, one block and five digs.
- Coming off a career day on Friday, Craig totaled five kills, eight digs and one ace.
- Gaylor tallied four kills, two aces, one block and four digs.
- Berry finished with team-highs in digs (11) and aces (3).
- Senior setter Maddie Schamaun (Rockville, Md.) totaled 12 assists and six digs.
DAEMEN 1, IUP 3
In their second match of the day and final match of the Crimson Hawk Classic, Daemen played host IUP close throughout the game but after winning the first, dropped the final three sets to fall 1-3 (25-22, 20-25, 19-25, 18-25). The Wildcats finish the tournament with a 2-2 record and sit at 3-5 on the season.
Daemen took a 3-2 lead early in the first off kills by Johnson and Gonzalez and a ball-handling error. With the set tied 7-7, the Wildcats won seven of the next eight rallies, including a Gonzalez kill that made it 10-8 on four straight points served by Schamaun to build a 14-8 lead. IUP scored to get back to 14-12, but the Wildcats answered with four unanswered points of their own, capped by a Johnson ace and a kill from Craig to bring the game to an 18-12 advantage. The Crimson Hawks brought the game within 23-21, but a service error brought up set point and Gaylor closed the Wildcats' 25-22 set win with a kill.
IUP took advantage of Daemen's early errors to jump to an 8-3 lead, but the Wildcats worked back to bring it to 12-10 behind a block involving Gonzalez and Johnson and kills by Johnson and Gaylor. The Wildcats and Crimson Hawks continued to trade points and Daemen stayed within two points, with Craig later recording a kill to make it 16-14. IUP then scored five straight to build a 21-14 lead. The Wildcats made one more push using two Gaylor kills and an IUP attack error to get to 22-20, but the Crimson Hawks held on for a 25-20 set win.
Daemen and IUP took runs of their own to stay tied up at 10 all early. The Crimson Hawks then scored six of the next seven points to go ahead 16-11, but the Wildcats got back within three (21-18) on a Craig kill. IUP would take four of the final five points, out the set 25-19.
The Wildcats built an 8-3 lead in the fourth set, getting three early kills from Gaylor along with kills by Johnson,
Jolie Faw and Craig. IUP scored six unanswered to move ahead 9-8 and later turned a 12-11 edge into a 17-11 lead with five consecutive points. The Cats put together a run to close the gap to two, 19-17, and Johnson's kill kept the Wildcats within 20-18, but IUP scored the final five points to take the set 25-18 and take the match 3-1.
IMPACT PLAYERS
- Gaylor turned in her biggest output of the young season with her first double-double of the season with 12 kills and 14 digs along with one block.
- Johnson finished one kill shy of a double-double, totaling nine kills and 10 digs along with two aces and two blocks.
- Schamaun tallied a double-double for the first time this season, totaling 17 digs and 16 assists along with one kill.
- Gonzalez totaled four blocks – two solo – and three digs.
- Molly Ryan (Orchard Park, N.Y.) finished with 13 assists and five digs.
- Berry led the Wildcats with 19 digs.
UP NEXT
Daemen heads eastbound to Wilmington, Delaware next weekend to play four matches in the Wildcats Invitational hosted by Wilmington University.
