Springfield, Mass. - Survive and advance.
That's exactly what transpired late this afternoon as the second-seeded Daemen Wildcats rallied to defeat the seventh-seeded Bentley Falcons 3-2 (25-17, 21-25, 18-25, 25-22, 15-10) in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball Championship East Regional at Henry A. Butova Gymnasium on the campus of American International College. With the win, Daemen advances to tomorrow's regional semifinal match against third-seeded Stonehill.
After jumping out to early leads of 7-1 and 12-4 in the first set, it appeared the Wildcats might coast to an opening-round victory. But, momentum swung in favor of the Falcons despite them dropping the opening set. Daemen powered down 15 kills in the first but were held to 18 on a .076 hitting percentage across the second and third sets combined.
Graduate student Allison Post (Windsor, Calif.) came off the bench to provide a spark to open the fourth set. Post knocked home three kills as the Wildcats opened up an early 10-3 lead. The Falcons battled back and pulled within 17-14 before another kill by Post ignited a 4-1 Wildcat spurt. Bentley got it to a one-point deficit (23-22), but senior outside hitter Sam Logan (Eden, N.Y.) put down a kill and the Falcons committed an attack error to send the match to a fifth and deciding set.
In the fifth, the teams traded the first 16 points. A diving dig by Maggie Burns (Louisville, Ky.) led to a kill from Oivia Alessi (East Aurora, N.Y.) to knot the score at 7-7. Moments later, sophomore middle Vanessa Kuliga (Glenview, Ill.) recorded a kill that sparked the match's most defining run. Daemen rattled off five straight points, including a service ace by Logan, a kill by Post and another from Kuliga to take a 13-8 lead. Bentley prolonged the match momentarily, but Daemen emerged from a timeout and went to Post who once again delivered in the clutch. Her kill gave Daemen a 14-10 lead, and the Wildcats picked up the final point on a Bentley hitting error. Daemen saved their most efficient set for last, totaling eight kills on a .259 hitting percentage in the fifth.
Daemen has won two straight five-set matches. The Wildcats earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament with a similar rally to defeat Bridgeport 3-2 in the East Coast Conference Championship tournament last month. Daemen had dropped nine consecutive five-set matches prior to their defeat of the Purple Knights.
Today's win improved the Wildcats to 23-7 this season. Daemen has won 10 straight and 19 of their last 21 matches. Bentley ended its season at 15-13.
IMPACT PLAYERS
- Freshman middle Amelia Armstrong (River Falls, Wisc.) saw her most extensive action of the season and produced a team-high 11 kills. Armstrong was in the starting lineup to replace all-conference middle Loren Alberts (Huntley, Ill.) who has been lost for the season with an injury. She committed just one attack error and finished with a .526 hitting percentage.
- Sophomore defensive specialist Jasmine Brundage (East Aurora, N.Y.) was all over the court while wearing Daemen's libero jersey. The ECC Libero of the Year finished with a career-high 35 digs. Daemen finished with a season-high 106 digs as a team.
- Logan (10 kills, 14 digs) and Alessi (44 assists, 10 digs) both produced double-doubles. Logan, who added three service aces, has totaled seven double-doubles this season and 14 in her career. Alessi has a team-high 13 double-doubles this season.
- Caitlyn Meyer (Clarence, N.Y.) narrowly missed a double-double, finishing with nine kills and 17 digs to go with four blocks.
- Kuliga, Post and Burns all produced as well. Kuliga totaled seven kills and seven blocks; Post finished with eight kills in only three sets of action; Burns swung a hot hand early, and finished with seven kills to go with 15 digs.
- Ellie Wheeler (13 kills), Ingird Murphy (10 kills, 24 digs), Shannon Ngo (11 kills) and Amanda Parker (34 assists, 16 digs) paced Bentley in defeat.
GAME NOTES
- Daemen improved to 3-2 all-time in NCAA tournament play. Today's win was their first in the NCAA tournament since a 3-0 defeat of New Haven on Dec. 2, 2016.
- The Wildcats are making the third NCAA tournament appearance in program history (2016, 2018, 2021). Daemen's deepest tournament run came in 2016 when they advanced to the regional finals.
- This is the first NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball Championship to be held since 2019. The tournament was wiped out in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The winner of this weekend's East Regional advances to the Elite Eight to be held Dec. 9-11 in Tampa, Fla.
- With todays win, Daemen improves to 21-4 against East Region opponents this season. Since the 2016 season, Daemen is 82-29 against East Region opponents.
- Daemen improved to 2-1 all-time against Bentley. Today's meeting was the first between the Wildcats and Falcons since 2018.
- The Wildcats have reached the 20-win plateau for the 12th time in program history, as well as the third time as an NCAA program. Daemen's 23 wins are the most in a season since 2016 when they finished with a 25-8 record.
UP NEXT
Daemen will face third-seeded Stonehill in tomorrow's regional semifinal beginning at 5 p.m. The match will be available via live stream on the NE10 Now Digital Network.
Provided by the Daemen Sports Information Department.
