Men's Volleyball 10/31/2018 10:28:00 AM By Tom McDermott, Sports Information Consultant

Inaugural Men's Volleyball Schedule Announced

AMHERST, N.Y. — Daemen College men's volleyball coach Don Gleason has announced the program's inaugural schedule. The 26-match schedule stretches from early January to early April.

Daemen officials announced the addition of men's volleyball to the stable of teams sponsored by the college for intercollegiate athletic competition in May of 2017. The addition of men's volleyball was made possible by a $60,000 grant from the MotorMVB Foundation. The MotorMVB Foundation (www.MotorMVB.com) is a non-profit organization that's mission is to stimulate the growth of boys' and men's volleyball at all levels in the United States.

Daemen became just the 27th National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II men's volleyball program in the country when it made the announcement, and the only Division II team North of the Mason-Dixon Line. NCAA Division II programs compete with their Division I counterparts for the national collegiate championship. Daemen will begin as an independent with an eye on joining a conference like the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association somewhere down the line.

By contrast, there are currently over 100 NCAA Division III men's volleyball teams, including local programs D'Youville College, Medaille College, Hilbert College, Nazareth College and St. John Fisher College. As a result, the majority of Daemen's 2019 schedule will be against NCAA Division III teams.

The non-Division III teams that the Wildcats will face this season include Division I Sacred Heart University and Saint Francis University and Division II programs Alderson Broaddus University and Lincoln Memorial University. Bus rides will also be common place for the Wildcats, as 20 of the team's 26 matches will be played away from the friendly confines of Lumsden Gymnasium.

The inaugural season begins Jan. 11-12 when Daemen heads to Loretta, Pa. to take part in the Red Flash Invitational hosted by St. Francis University. Daemen will also travel to tournaments at Juniata College (Jan. 25-26) and Wells College (March 1-2).

Daemen will play an exhibition match against Brock University at Lumsden Gymnasium on Jan. 23, but the first official home game will take place Jan. 29 against Elmira College. Additional home matches will be against Medaille (Feb. 9), Wells (Feb. 26), Sacred Heart (March 8) and Anderson Broaddus (March 9).

The season concludes with a trip to Poughkeepsie, N.Y. to take part in a tri-match with Division III heavyweights Springfield College and Vassar College. The NCAA has sponsored a Division III Championship since 2012 and Springfield has won the last two and five of the previous seven. Vassar went 23-8 last year and has advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament the past two seasons.

Gleason announced his first recruiting class this past April and the Wildcats will field an eight-player roster that features seven true freshmen and one redshirt freshman.

Gleason, who also serves on coach Stephanie Albano's staff with the Daemen women's volleyball team, has made previous coaching stops at the Division I and Division III levels. The Hamburg, N.Y. native has been an assistant coach on the women's volleyball staffs at Stony Brook University (2015), the University at Buffalo (2014) and Yale University (2012-13). He got his start as an assistant for both the men's and women's programs at Medaille College in 2011, and later spent the spring of 2013 as a volunteer assistant at the University of Southern California. In addition to his collegiate coaching experience, Gleason has extensive ties to the club volleyball scene, and he owns and operates Oasis Beach Volleyball Club for boys and girls ages 10-18.

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