LORETTO, Pa. - The Daemen College men's volleyball team suffered losses to tournament host Saint Francis University (3-0) and Emmanuel (Ga.) College (3-2) here today during second-day action of the Red Flash Invitational.

Today's results come after the Wildcats rallied for a 3-2 win over Alderson Broaddus University in the program's first-ever match last night. Yesterday's historic win came nearly two years after the college announced it was adding the sport to its stable of intercollegiate athletic teams. Saint Francis, a Division I program, improved to 2-0 with the win, while Emmanuel, a Division II program like Daemen, closed out the tournament with a 2-1 record. Daemen is now 1-2 in its inaugural season.

Set one against Saint Francis was a back-and-forth affair early on and was tied at 14-14 when the host Red Flash went on a 6-1 run to take a 20-15 lead. A SFU service error made it 20-16, but the hosts closed out the set with five unanswered points. SFU scored seven of the first 10 points in set two and the Red Flash later took a 14-7 lead following a Daemen attack error. Daemen answered with a 6-2 run and cut the lead to three points, 16-13, following a SFU attack error. Daemen later made it a two-point game (22-20) following a kill by redshirt freshman Brandon Casterline (North Tonawanda, N.Y.), but SFU scored three of the next four points to secure the win. SFU held a 12-9 lead in set three when the hosts took control with a 9-3 run. A service ace by redshirt freshman Daniel Fry capped the run and gave SFU a 21-12 lead. SFU went on to post a 25-15 victory to secure the match.

Freshmen Jarari Winkfield (Oswego, Ill.) and Jesse Donorovich (Lockport, N.Y.) paced a balanced Daemen attack with six kills each, while freshman Michael Krueger (Canonsburg, Pa.) led the team in assists (22) and digs (6).

Redshirt junior Patrick Bryan totaled 11 kills for the hosts, while redshirt junior BJ Blair handed out 31 assists.

The Wildcats took the first two sets against Emmanuel (26-24, 28-26), but the Lions roared back with wins in set three (25-20) and set four (25-16) to force a fifth and deciding set. Emmanuel held a 6-5 lead in set five, when the Lions took control with a 5-1 run. The Emmanuel lead was four points (13-9) when Daemen put together one last push and cut the lead to a point with three unanswered points. That's as close as the Wildcats would get, as the Lions closed out the match with a kill and a Daemen attack error.

Winkfield and Donorovich once again led the Daemen attack. Winkfield totaled a team-high 20 kills and four blocks, while Donorovich added 13 kills, three service aces and nine digs. Freshman Kyle Kon (Oswego, N.Y) added 11 kills and 12 digs, while Krueger totaled 44 assists and a team-high 16 digs.

Freshman Jomar Mondestin paced the Lions with 16 kills and 13 digs, while senior Demitrius Maloney handed out 41 assists and also totaled three service aces and eight digs.

Daemen officials announced the addition of men's volleyball in May of 2017. The addition was made possible by a $60,000 grant from the MotorMVB Foundation.  The MotorMVB Foundation (www.MotorMVB.com) is a non-profit organization that focuses on 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.

The Wildcats are idle until Jan. 23 when they host Brock University in an exhibition match. The next official event for Daemen comes Jan. 25-26 when it travels to Huntingdon, Pa. to take part in the Juniata College Invitational.

The next "first" for the program will come later this month when the Wildcats host their first-ever home match against Elmira College (Jan. 29).

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