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2022 Volleyball Team Celebration

PREVIEW: Volleyball set to battle Daemen in NCAA First Round

11/16/2022 7:30:00 PM

MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College women's volleyball team has been selected to participate in the NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball Championship through an at-large bid and will battle Daemen (N.Y.) University on Thursday, Nov. 17 with the first serve slated for 12 p.m.

SAINT ANSELM COLLEGE HAWKS (20-9, 9-3 NE10)
Roster | Schedule & Results | 2022 Statistics | News

RV DAEMEN UNIVERSITY WILDCATS (20-5, 10-0 ECC)
Roster | Schedule & Results | 2022 Statistics | News

The Hawks (20-9) earned the seventh-seed in East Regional and will battle the second-seed, Daemen (N.Y.). The East Region's top-seed, American International, will host the East Regional Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Finals between Thursday, Nov. 17 and Saturday, Nov. 19 from the Henry A. Butova Gymnasium.

Saint Anselm made its sixth consecutive appearance and its 14th appearance in program history in the Northeast-10 Conference postseason in 2022. The Hawks earned the fifth-seed for the tournament but fell to crosstown rival Southern New Hampshire, the fourth-seed, in the postseason bracket.

The Wildcats claimed their second-consecutive East Coast Conference Championship, earning the ECC's automatic bid to the East Regional. Daemen owns a 20-5 overall record with a 10-0 record in ECC matches. The Wildcats are the first program to capture consecutive ECC Championships since the 2014 and 2015 seasons and will be making their third appearance in the NCAA Championship since 2018.

Saint Anselm has reached 20 wins in a single season for the second time in the last three full seasons of competition and the 2022 squad becomes just the fifth team in program history to reach 20 wins in a single season. The team also set a program record to begin the season with seven consecutive wins and a consecutive set winning streak of 19.

SCOUTING SAINT ANSELM
  • Saint Anselm was projected to finish fourth in the annual Northeast-10 Preseason Coaches' Poll, released this past August. The Hawks have now entered the season inside the top-four in the Preseason Poll for consecutive seasons for the first time in program history, adding a third-place projection in 2021. American International College, the 2021 and 2022 NE10 Champion was projected to finish atop the poll.
  • Entering the 2022 season, under the guidance of Head Coach Braden Zamore who is now in his eighth season at the helm of the program, the Hawks had qualified for their fifth consecutive appearance in the NE10 postseason and had set a program record in 2021 of 16 consecutive sets won. Saint Anselm had also posted double-digit wins and a record north of .500 in five consecutive full seasons of competition.
  • Zamore is the winningest coach in Hawks history, owning a 123-79 (.609) overall record through eight seasons on the Hilltop. He joined the program in 2015 after seven seasons at Daniel Webster (NCAA Division III) as the men's and women's volleyball coach, earning four NECC Coach of the Year honors during his tenure.
  • Last time out, fifth-seeded Saint Anselm came out on the losing end of last Thursday's Northeast-10 Conference quarterfinals match at crosstown rival Southern New Hampshire in straight sets. Senior Lauren Casey (Jefferson City, Mo.) and junior Kaitlin Brown (Glendale, Ariz.) registered 11 kills each to pace the Hawks offense while senior Michelle Henwood (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) threw up a match-high 32 assists.
  • On Friday, Nov. 11, Henwood and Casey were named to the All-Conference Second team while senior Caroline Belmontez (San Diego, Calif.) earned placement on the All-Conference Third Team. Freshman Ava Kidd (Walton, Ky.) was selected to the All-Rookie Team.
  • Casey ranks seventh in the NE10 with an average of 3.24 kills per set, aiding her to the highest kills per set ratio in program history at 3.14. The senior has a total of 305 kills which are sixth most in the conference. Casey is second on the team with 38 service aces, trailing only Henwood. Casey's 38 service aces are good for a tie for 14th in the NE10 and aids the Hawks to the ninth best service aces per set ratio in all of NCAA Division II at 2.36.
  • Henwood ranks fourth in program history with 2,873 career assists. In 2022, the senior has posted 821 assists, good for an average of 8.92 per set. Compared to the NE10, Henwood ranks sixth in assists and fourth in assists per set. The senior leads the Hawks and is tied for sixth in the NE10 with 43 service aces this season. Henwood has aided the team in all facets of play as she has 105 kills and is second on the team with 287 digs, averaging 3.12 per set in 92 sets played this season. In program history, Henwood ranks second in assists per set (9.09), second in service attempts (1,365), fourth in attack percentage (0.307), sixth in service aces per set (0.40), and eighth in service aces (125).
  • Belmontez posted six digs in the Hawks last contest, bringing her to 1,304 career digs. Belmontez is just the fifth Saint Anselm student-athlete to eclipse the 1,300 career digs mark and is fifth all-time in that metric. The senior leads the Hawks and ranks eighth in the NE10 with 374 digs this season, good for an average of 3.78 per set which is 10th best in the conference. Belmontez ranks second in volleyball program history with an average of 4.10 digs per set. She ranks eighth in service aces per set (0.37), ninth in service aces (119), and ninth in service attempts (1,066).
  • Brown and sophomore Gabby Belcher (Buckeye, Ariz.) are second and third on the Hawks with 214 and 206 kills each respectively. Brown collected NE10 Player of the Week honors on Sept. 19 after averaging a team-best 3.12 kills per set in a pair of four-set victories over Assumption in non-conference action and over NCAA Division I Stonehill. Belcher was a NE10 All-Rookie Team selection in 2021.
  • Kidd was named the first NE10 Rookie of the Week in 2022 after registering 10 kills on 12 attempts for a blistering 0.833 hitting percentage in her collegiate debut on Aug. 25 against Valdosta State. Kidd is averaging 1.60 kills per set, totaling 142 kills this season. Kidd ranks fifth on the squad in kills and in kills per set. The freshman ranks second on the team with 63.0 blocks, stemming from 14 solo blocks and 49 assisted.
  • Junior Audrey Wetjen (Henderson, Nev.) leads the Saint Anselm net defense with 75.0 blocks. She leads the Hawks with 24 solo blocks and 51 assisted, good for an average of 0.81 blocks per set. Wetjen's 75.0 total blocks rank eighth in the NE10 and her blocks per set ratio is good for 12th in the conference. Wetjen has added 179 kills for the Hawks offense, which is good for fourth on the squad.
  • Saint Anselm began varsity competition in 1976 under the direction of Donna Guimont. Guimont led the program for four seasons before Nancy Zeloski and Eileen Mason led the Hawks for one season each through 1981. The volleyball program returned to the Hilltop in 1993 with Lloyd Sheehan. Leading up to Zamore's appointment in 2015, seven individuals had coached Saint Anselm from the 1998 season through 2014.
  • Saint Anselm has made 14 appearances in the NE10 postseason and currently owns a 3-17 (.150) record in those matches. The program registered its first win in 2017, a five-set thriller over New Haven, and later earned its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball Championship. The Hawks also won their NE10 quarterfinal round match in the 2018 and 2019 seasons and earned at-large bids to those NCAA tournaments, marking three consecutive appearances in the NCAA East Regional.
  • The volleyball program registered its first win in the NCAA postseason during the 2019 season in a four-set win over New Haven in the First Round before falling in five to Molloy, who ended up winning the East Region in 2019.
SCOUTING DAEMEN
  • No. 2-seeded Daemen (20-5) is making its fourth appearance all-time in the NCAA Division II Championship. The Wildcats earned the automatic bid from the East Coast Conference on Nov. 13 after downing the East Region's No. 8-seed, Molloy, in straight sets to capture the program's second-consecutive ECC Championship. The Wildcats are receiving votes in the most recent American Volleyball Coaches Association National Rankings.
  • Each of the program's four NCAA Championship appearances have come since 2016 as the program first made its NCAA postseason during that campaign. The Wildcats have also qualified for the East Regional in 2018 and 2021 and advanced to the NCAA Championship Quarterfinals in 2021 after downing Bentley, Stonehill, and the top-seed American International on their way to the East Region crown. The Wildcats fell to nationally-ranked Western Washington in the Elite Eight to close their 2021 campaign at 25-8.
  • Led by ECC Coach of the Year Eli Irizarry, ECC Player of the Year Maggie Burns, and ECC Co-Setter of the Year Olivia Alessi, the Wildcats have won nine-straight and 18 of their last 20 matches.
  • Sam Logan and Vanessa Kuliga joined Burns on the All-Conference First Team while Alessi and Jasmine Brundage earned Second Team All-ECC honors. Giselle Giraud earned Honorable Mention honors.
  • Logan leads the Wildcats with 235 kills this season while Burns follows closely with 227. Giraud and Kuliga are third and fourth on the squad with 161 and 150 kills each, respectively. Alessi is averaging 9.37 assists per set and has a total of 534 helpers in 57 sets played this season. Alessi ranks second on the team with 27 service aces, trailing Kuliga who has 31.
  • Brundage has a team-high 269 digs with Logan and Burns aiding the defense with 254 and 219 digs each. The trio holds a 3.27 digs per set ratio or higher. Kuliga has 17 solo blocks and 24 assisted for a team-high 41.0 blocks in 2022.
ALL-TIME vs. DAEMEN
  • Daemen is 2-1 in the all-time series against Saint Anselm, making the NCAA First Round meeting the fourth between the two programs and the second of the 2022 season. • The teams met on Sept. 9 in the IVHOF DII East Region Clash. The Wildcats grabbed a 3-1 win in that match from Springfield, Mass.
  • The Wildcats won the opening meeting in five sets on Oct. 15, 2016 but the Hawks responded with a five-set win of their own on Oct. 19, 2019.
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