Box Score ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Oct. 31, 2015) - In what proved to be a show-stopping five-set marathon, the Molloy College women's volleyball team dealt the Daemen College Wildcats a Halloween loss at Quealy Gymnasium. Set scores favored the Lions 24-26, 26-24, 22-25, 26-24 and 15-10.
Daemen (12-13, 7-5 ECC) came out in the first set on a 7-3 run to start the festivites in the first set, capitalizing on several Molloy (5-19, 3-8 ECC) attack errors along the way. The Lions battled back to take their first lead of the contest at 18-17 on a kill by freshman
Jeanne Reinis (Santa Fe Springs, Calif.) and then upped the lead to two following a service ace from
Grace Cookson (San Diego, Calif.). The home side could not put the visitors away, and the Wildcats held a set point at 24-23 before senior outside hitter
Cassie Palmer (Norwalk, Calif.) struck for a kill to tie the set up at 24 and force a win-by-two scenario. The visitors looked to two of their big hitters as red-shirt senior Ye Wang (Beijing, China) and junior Amber Drzymala (West Seneca, N.Y.) converted attacks to put the first set into the hands of the Wildcats.
Set number two featured Molloy getting off to a 5-1 lead thanks to two kills from
Carly Banks (Camas, Wash.), a Reinis service ace and a block by Palmer and
Spencer Williams (Los Angeles, Calif.). Following a theme though, the stanza would prove to be a tight affair as the Lions' lead ballooned to a 12-5 edge before shrinking to 16-14 on a kill by Jenna Reeser (Amherst, N.Y.). Following a Palmer kill to put the Lions up by three, Daemen ran off seven straight points on three Molloy errors, three kills by freshman Ashley Drzymala (West Seneca, N.Y.) and a kill from Wang that put the Wildcats ahead 21-17. Daemen led 24-21 after a Reeser kill and had set point but Molloy ran off five straight with kills by Reinis, Williams and Banks couple with two errors from the visitors to improbably level the match at one set apiece.
The third game of the marathon affair featured 14 instances where the scores were the same for both teams, and Molloy held an 18-15 lead in the stanza on a kill by Cookson. Daemenrallied back to tie the score at 18 before Palmer converted a kill to give the maroon and white the lead back. At 20-20, Banks hit an impressive kill to put the Lions temporarily in the driver's seat until two errors and a kill by Amber Drzymala gave the Wildcats a two-point lead. Following another Cookson kill, Wang and Reeser stuffed Palmer at the net to force a game point. Off of an impressive swing in the front row, freshman libero Kailey Ballou (Eden, N.Y.) dug the ball over the net and the Lions could only watch it flutter to the hardwood right on the baseline for the set-winning point. In the fourth set, both teams again struggled to maintain any kind of momentum as kills were followed up by attack errors on each side of the court. After a Palmer kill leveled the fourth stanza at 13, the Wildcats ran off three straight points culminating in a service ace from Alicia Contreras (Arcadia, Calif.) to give Daemen a 16-13 lead. Molloy fought back at 19-17, as a service error from Ballou was followed by a Banks kill and a Cookson-Banks tandem block to give the Lions a 20-19 lead. The home side held a 24-22 lead following a strong kill by Reinis and had two set points to force the match into a fifth frame. Consecutive attack errors leveled the score before Daemen committed an attack error of its own, and Reinis emphatically put home a kill to level the match at two sets to two.
Molloy was on fire with all the momentum in its corner, and the Lions opened the final act of this heart-stopping thriller up 5-2 on kills by Banks and Palmer and two Daemen attack errors. A Palmer kill gave the Lions an 8-6 lead and the crucial switch point, as the teams traded sides on the court for the remainder of the first-to-15 set. The Wildcats cut the lead to 9-8 before committing an attack error and watching Williams level home a kill to put Molloy up 11-8. The visitors then had one last gasp at 12-10, but Reinis would slam home a kill and follow up with a service ace to put Daemen on the verge of defeat when a Palmer kill ended the match and gave the Lions the victory.
In the match, Palmer led the Lions with 22 kills and also notched another double-double with 10 digs. Junior setter
Ally De Kruyf (Norwalk, Calif.) tied a school record with 58 assists in the match, equaling a mark set by Karen Quiambao (58 assists versus Dominican on Oct. 6, 2006). Williams had an impressive showing with 12 kills on a .550 hitting percentage, Reinis added 13 kills and Banks had 11 of her own. Cookson notched eight kills and led all players with three block assists. Sophomore libero
Dakota O'Neill (Long Beach, N.Y.) led a strong defensive effort with 21 digs while junior setter
Alley Stefanovski (North Chili, N.Y.) added 12 and freshman
Meaghan Carr (Mineola, N.Y.) made 10 digs including several stellar one-handed saves in the back row.
Ashley Drzymala led Daemen with 22 kills, while older sister Amber had 15 and a team-high 18 digs. Sophomore setter Katie McKrell (Webster, N.Y.) had 58 assists to match De Kruyf's totals and Ballou added 17 digs for the Wildcats.
Molloy will continue its four-match homestand on Sunday (Nov. 1) by facing Roberts Wesleyan in an 11 a.m. match at Quealy Gymnasium.
