Rockville Centre, N.Y. - The top-seeded Lions of Molloy College will take on the eighth-seeded Panthers of Adelphi University in the opening round of the NCAA East Regional Tournament tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Quealy Gymnasium. Molloy, the top-seed and host, earned an automatic bid to the tournament following winning its second East Coast Conference Championship in three seasons. 


About the Lions

• This is Molloy's third program appearance in the NCAA Tournament, earning a bid each of the last three seasons under head coach Kevin DesLauriers. 
• Molloy defeated Mercy College, 3-0, and the University of Bridgeport, 3-1, in the East Coast Conference Tournament to win its second championship.
• The maroon and white won 19 of the team's 29 contests in 2019 in three sets and are undefeated when a match is stretched to four sets (5-0). The team is 2-3 in five-set contests. 
• The Lions enter the tournament at 25-4 on the season, going 10-0 in East Coast Conference play. 
• Offensively, the maroon and white are led by junior Kacey Affrunti, who earned Player of the Year recognition by both the East Coast Conference and the Division II Conference Commissioners Association. The middle hitter leads the team with 321 kills and ranks fourth in the nation with 59 service aces. 
• The Lions swept the major ECC awards, taking home Player of the Year as well as Setter of the Year (senior Sophia Smith), Libero of the Year (senior Jessica Fischetti), Rookie of the Year (freshman Chye Davis), and Co-Coach of the Year (Kevin DesLauriers). while totaling five All-Conference selections with the addition of redshirt senior Carly Banks and senior Hailey Wehr on the Second Team. 
• Molloy will look to continue its tremendous home court advantage, dropping only one game at home in 2019, against top-five Lewis University, as well as falling in only five contests in the past three seasons on the floor of Quealy Gymnasium. 
• Banks enters tonight's game needing just one kill to become the program's all-time kill leader, topping Angelica Nicalek at 1300. 
• In 2019, the Lions went 5-2 against teams playing in the NCAA East Regional Tournament while going 6-4 against the field of teams competing in the NCAA Tournament. 

Scouting the Panthers

• The Panthers hold a 26-5 all-time record against Molloy, including taking 21 of the past 22 matches. Adelphi dropped its first match against its local rival since 1998 this season, falling 3-0 in Quealy Gymnasium on Oct. 16. 
• Adelphi earned the final at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament after missing out on the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament due to tiebreaker scenarios. The team went 14-10 in 2019 and enter the tournament with a 5-6 record in games played on the road.
• AU ended the regular season on a three-game winning streak, including besting Saint Anselm College 3-2 in its last contest.
• Adelphi had three earn All-Conference recognition in Sara Mandreja and Cara McKenzie on the Second Team and Katarina Warburton on the Third Team. 
• The Panthers went 3-4 agaisnt East Regional teams. 

The winner of this contest will take on the winner of #4 Saint Anselm and #5 University of New Haven on Friday (Dec. 6) at 7:30 p.m. in Quealy Gymnasium. The East Regional Final will be played at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday (Dec. 7).