GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – The tremendous 2023 Daemen University women's volleyball season came to a close with a 3-1 (25-12, 21-25, 23-25, 23-25) loss to the third-seeded Bentley Falcons in the NCAA Division II East Region Championship match on Saturday night. Daemen, the fifth-seed in the East Regional, finishes the season with a 26-6 overall record after advancing to their third regional championship game in program history. Bentley, who's record improved to 25-6 with the win, advances to the Elite Eight and will play at the NCAA Division II Tournament in Moon Township, Pa. on Dec. 7-9.
 
The entire match was back-and-forth, save for the first set when the Wildcats cruised to a 25-12 win, as the final three sets were determined by four or fewer points. The Wildcats out-hit Bentley 51 to 42 on the day, totaling just 20 attack errors on 146 total attacks for a .212 hitting percentage in the loss. Bentley finished 42 of 145 with 22 errors and hit at a .138 in their region title victory.

Daemen's Giselle Giraud, Charlotte Koerber and Jasmine Brundage earned All-Tournament team honors for their efforts over the weekend. 
 
IMPACT PLAYERS

• Senior right side Giselle Giraud (Orlando, Fla.) led all players with 17 kills (4.25 kills/set) with just four errors on 32 attacks for a .406 hitting percentage, and added two digs and one block assist on the night to finish with a match-high 17.5 points.
• Freshman outside hitter Charlotte Koerber (Munich, Germany) finished with her 13^th double-double (kills-digs) of the season with 14 kills (3.5 kills/set) and 10 digs. The ECC Rookie of the Year went 14 of 38 with four errors for a .263 hitting percentage, and added four block assists, one solo block and three assists for a 17-point outing.
• Senior libero Jasmine Brundage (East Aurora, N.Y.) posted a season and match-high 34 digs (8.5 digs/set) along with five assists and two aces.
• Fifth year senior outside hitter Maggie Burns (Louisville, Ky.) finished with six kills on 30 attacks, 11 digs, two aces and two assists.
• Senior setter Dunja Masic (McHenry, Ill.) totaled a team-high 26 assists (6.5 assists/set), six digs, one ace and one kill on the night.
• Senior middle Vanessa Kuliga (Glenview, Ill.) totaled four kills and just one error on 13 attacks for a .231 hitting percentage. She finished with two aces, one assist, one solo block and one block assist.
• Senior setter Olivia Alessi (East Aurora, N.Y.) finished with 10 assists, four digs and two kills.
• Junior right side Kate Ryan (Buffalo, N.Y.) finished with four kills, three digs, one assisted block and one assist.
• Junior middle Amelia Armstrong (River Falls, Wisc.) totaled three kills, five block assists, one dig and one assist. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• The Wildcats opened the first set with a 10-2 run, taking advantage of five Bentley errors while adding four kills and an ace early in the game to set the pace. The Wildcats cruised to a 25-12 first-set victory with Giraud (5 kills) and Koerber (4 kills) leading the way offensively.
• Daemen totaled 11 kills for a .269 hitting percentage in the first with just four errors on 26 attack attempts. The Wildcats held the Falcons to six first-set kills and seven errors on 28 attempts.
• The Falcons came out swinging in the second half, going on an 8-3 run in the middle of the set to take a 13-7 lead. From there, Daemen went on a 6-1 run of their own off five kills to make it a one-point game, and continued trading points with the Falcons until Bentley scored five straight off a pair of aces and two kills to lead by six. The Wildcats scored four straight to keep the set close, but Bentley closed it out with the final two points to take the second set 25-21.
• Bentley and Daemen were evenly matched in the second, with the Wildcats narrowly out-killing the Falcons 15-13 to finish with a .289 hitting percentage, while Bentley hit .286 in the set. The Wildcats had one more attack error (4 to 3), but the difference was four service aces and just one error for the Falcons compared to two aces and four errors for Daemen in the set.
• Like the second set, the Falcons and Wildcats traded points to open the third. The Wildcats went on an 11-3 run in the middle of the set to take a 20-14 advantage over the Falcons. Following a well-timed Bentley timeout, the Falcons scored eight of the next 10 points to tie the game up at 22, and from there scored three of the last four to win the third set 25-23.
• Daemen totaled 11 kills with nine attack errors on 41 attempts in the third, hitting at just .049 in the set and committed four service errors and one ball handling error as well.
• Through the first 13 points, Daemen and Bentley went tit-for-tat, but the Falcons went on a 6-1 run from there to take a 19-14 lead over the Cats. Daemen then posted an 8-3 run to take a 22-21 lead. But the Falcons won four of the last five points to take the fourth and final set, 25-23 and win the East Regional.  

THANK YOU, SENIORS
It was the final match tonight for four Daemen seniors who helped the Wildcats to over 60 wins over their four-year careers. They helped Daemen to three consecutive East Coast Conference Tournament and regular season titles, three trips to the NCAA Division II Tournament, two appearances in the East Region championship game and the program's first East Region championship and Elite Eight appearance in 2021.

• Olivia Alessi closed out her time as the Daemen setter appeared in 24 matches and 81 total sets in the 2023 season, totaling 464 assists (5.73 assists/set), 155 digs (1.91 digs/set), 25 aces and 11 kills. A three-year player for the Wildcats, Alessi wrapped up her career with 2,032 total assists, 609 digs and 89 aces in 74 matches (250 total sets). She was named the ECC Co-Setter of the Year in 2022 and earned All-Conference honors in 2021 and 2022.
• Maggie Burns finished her outstanding four-year Daemen career as the fourth player in Wildcat history to post 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs. The outstanding outside hitter finished her graduate season starting 27 of Daemen's 32 matches for 94 total sets, 251 kills (2.67 kills/set) on 793 attacks for a .144 hitting percentage. She finished with 262 digs (2.79 digs/set), 29 service aces, 26 total blocks, and 25 assists on the season and earned First Team All-ECC for the second consecutive season. Including her freshman season at Urbana, the 2022 ECC Player of the Year finished with 1,063 kills and 1,118 digs over her five-year career. She earned AVCA and D2CCA All-Region honors in 2022.
• Vanessa Kuliga closed out an impressive four-year Daemen career with a team-high 71 total blocks (0.64 blocks/set), marking the second season in her career that she totaled 70+ blocks. The only player to take the court in all 32 of Daemen's matches this season (111 sets), Kuliga finished with 180 kills (1.62 kills/set) for a .253 hitting percentage, 75 digs and 28 aces. Kuliga played in 93 matches over four seasons, 318 total sets, and finished with 198 blocks, 589 kills, 84 aces and 219 digs. She earned All-Conference honors in 2022 and 2023, and AVCA and D2CCA All-Region honors in 2022.
• Dunja Masic finished her four-year collegiate career with her best season in a Daemen uniform where she played in 26 matches (91 sets) and finished with 720 assists (7.91 assists/set), 43 aces (0.47 aces/set), 131 digs, 29 kills and 11 blocks. She earned her 1,000^th career assist this season, and closes out her Wildcat career playing in 58 matches, 175 sets, 1,460 total assists, 82 aces, 296 digs and 79 kills.

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