Women's Volleyball Earns No. 2 Seed In NCAA Tournament East Regional

ECC champion Wildcats to face seventh-seeded Bentley in opening round

11/22/2021 8:30:00 PM

By: CONTACT: Mike Miranto, Sr. Associate A.D. for Communications/Operations | 716-839-8385 | mmiranto@daemen.edu

AMHERST, N.Y. - Daemen has been awarded the No. 2 seed in the East Regional portion of the 2021 NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball Championship which gets underway next week. The full 64-team NCAA tournament bracket was revealed this evening in a selection show broadcast at NCAA.com.

The Wildcats earned an automatic bid after winning the East Coast Conference Championship tournament on their home floor this past weekend. Daemen will face seventh-seeded Bentley (15-12) out of the Northeast-10 Conference in the opening round of the East Regional on Thursday, December 2. American International garnered the No. 1 seed and will host the East Regional at the Henry A. Butova Gymnasium on their campus in Springfield, Mass.

Additional first round matchups include top-seeded American International (27-6) against No. 8 Southern Connecticut State (23-10), No. 3 Stonehill (21-9) taking on No. 6 Jefferson (26-4) and No. 4 New Haven (22-9) battling No. 5 Holy Family (24-4).

The East Regional is one of eight regional tournaments to be held across the country. The eight regional champions will advance to the NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball Championship Elite Eight scheduled for December 9-11 at the Bob Martinez Athletics Center in Tampa, Fla.

Daemen will be making their third NCAA tournament appearance. The Wildcats earned previous berths in 2016 and 2018 and own an all-time NCAA tournament record of 2-2. Daemen's deepest tournament run came in their inaugural appearance when they advanced to the East Regional finals.

Daemen will enter this year's tournament with a 22-7 overall record. The Wildcats went unbeaten (12-0) through the ECC schedule and cemented their place in the NCAA tournament field with conference tournament wins over Molloy and Bridgeport. Led by ECC Coach of the Year Stephanie Albano, ECC Player of the Year Caitlyn Meyer (Clarence, N.Y.) and ECC Libero of the Year Jasmine Brundage (East Aurora, N.Y.), the Wildcats have won nine-straight and 18 of their last 20 matches. They'll be meeting Bentley for just the third time overall and for the first time since 2018. The Daemen-Bentley winner will advance to the regional semifinals on Friday, December 3 to face the winner of the Stonehill-Jefferson match. The regional champion will be crowned Saturday, December 4.

Additional details including match times, broadcast and ticket information will be posted to daemenwildcats.com in the coming days.

The 2021 NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball Championship is the first to be held since 2019. The 2020 tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Daemen College features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 18 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.

Follow the Daemen College women's volleyball program on Twitter and Instagram at @DaemenWVB.

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