RINDGE, N.H. (October 14, 2016) – The Franklin Pierce women's volleyball team returned home to the Fieldhouse after a four game road swing and dropped their final non-conference contest of the year to Daemen College 3-2 (16-25, 20-25, 25-16, 25-14, 14-16) Friday evening. The loss, the Ravens fourth in a row, drops them to 5-10 overall and the win improves the Wildcats to 12-6.

The Ravens were sluggish out of the gate hitting .086 and .258 in the first two sets compared to their opponent (.312 and .417 hitting percentage). Over the next two sets FPU's net presence strengthened as they recorded 11 of their 19 total blocks in sets three and four holding the Wildcats to .100 and a -.036 hitting percentages in those stanzas.

In the fourth set FPU hit .538 while recording a team-best 15 kills in the set and only one service error. Katie Leidhold (Acushnet, Mass.) paced the Raven offense with a team-best 17 kills. Hannah St. Jean (Olympia, Wash.) added 13 kills, a .385 hitting percentage, a game-high six total blocks, three digs and a service ace. Madison Klusendorf (Santa Maria, Calif.) chipped in nine kills, 10 digs, two blocks and a service ace.

As a team, FPU held the advantage in service aces (7-to-1) and hitting percentage (.267-to-.206), but were undone by ball handling errors (4-to-1) and service errors (14-to-8).

In the third set, the Ravens trailed 4-1 and rallied for six straight points that culminated with a Brittney Carias (Burlingame, Calif.) service ace and forced Damen to use a timeout. The Wildcats outscored the Ravens 3-1 over the next few possessions to cut the FPU lead to 8-7.

The Ravens kept on rolling, increasing their lead to 16-10 after a Leidhold kill. Two consecutive points from Daemen made it 16-12 before the Ravens outscored the guests 4-1 which gave them a set high seven point lead. The Crimson and Grey kept on scoring and took the set 25-16, a nine point win.

In set four, the Crimson and Grey started fast jumping out to a five point, 11-6 lead as Abigail Sonuga (Haverhill, Mass.) swung a set by Hannah Runge (Deltona, Fla.) into the floor for an FPU point. A 3-1 mini run forced another Daemen timeout which made it a seven point Raven advantage.

Daemen responded with five straight points after the stoppage to cut the Raven lead to two. FPU kept the pressure on their opponent as an attack error by Ashley Drzymala wound up being the nail in the coffin for the Wildcats fourth set chances as they fell 25-14.

The fifth set began with two kills by Leidhold and Klusendorf both from Runge to put the hosts out in front early. Daemen then outscored Franklin Pierce 8-2 over the next few minutes and held an 8-4 lead before the side swap.

Three straight points including a thunderous duo block from Leidhold and St. Jean put FPU back in the match, 8-7. FPU wound up tying the final set at 14 all with a kill by Klusendorf and another huge double block this time from St. Jean and Runge.

A bad set by Runge and an Amber Drzymala kill put the game away as Daemen held off the Raven comeback attempt.

Brittney Carias was the leading defender for FPU as she accumulated a team-best 18 digs and added a match-high four service aces. Hannah Runge handed out 39 assists, had four digs and recorded three blocks. Jocelyn Moody (Biddeford, Maine) added six digs off the bench and Abigail Sonuga chipped in eight kills and four total blocks in the loss.

The Ravens return to action tomorrow as they host Northeast-10 Conference opponent Stonehill at 1:00 p.m.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce cross country apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).