AMHERST, N.Y. – The Roberts Wesleyan women's volleyball team opened up East Coast Conference play on Wednesday with a 3-1 loss at i90 rival Daemen College.
 
Senior Kristina Button put together her best overall performance of the season coming away with 12 kills on 23 attack attempts for a .478 hitting percentage. Button also led the team on the defensive end with five total blocks, including two solo and three block assists. The senior accounted for 15.5 points of the team's total 59 points in the match.
 
The Redhawks stood strong in the first two sets droppign a close first set 25-22 and winning the second set 27-25. But the Wildcats took control in the final two sets winning 25-15 and 25-18 to earn their first ECC victory of the season.
 
Roberts was surging at the end of the first set going on a four point run to close the deficit to one point at 23-22, but following a Daemen timeout the Wildcats finished off the set with two straight points to get ahead 1-0 in the match.
 
In the second set the Redhawks found themselves down early, 7-3, but slowly closed the gap and were able to tie the set up 24-24 following a kill by Button. Daemen took the next point to take a 25-24 lead but the Redhawks closed with three straight points which included two more kills from Button. Roberts never controlled a lead in the set until match point at 26-25.
 
In the final two sets it was all Daemen as the hosts jumped out to a quick 11-3 lead in the third and an 8-3 lead in the fourth set making a comeback difficult for Roberts.
 
Roberts continues to excel in the blocks category posting nine total in the match to just four from Daemen.
 
Freshman Lauren Taeko Chase dished out 23 assists, her third highest total in a match this season.
 
The Redhawks will host their first game of the season on Friday when they take on Franklin Pierce as part of a tri-match at 7:30 p.m. Roberts will play again on Saturday against Urbana University at 12:30 p.m.