BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Daemen College men's volleyball split two matches at the D'Youville College quad-match today. The Wildcats won against the Medaille College Mavericks (3-1) and suffered a loss to the host D'Youville College Spartans (3-0). Daemen won in four sets (20-25, 25-26, 25-15, 25-22) against Medaille, and lost in straight sets to the Spartans (25-23, 27-25, 25-22). Today's results push Daemen's season record to 3-7.
The Wildcats' win marked their second in as many weekends against the Mavericks. Daemen defeated Medaille 3-0 when the teams met Feb. 9 at Lumsden Gymnasium.
After the Mavericks won the first set 25-20, Daemen was able to rattle off wins in three straight sets. The second set victory came when Daemen jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead. They carried that lead without letting Medaille get within three points before eventually winning the set 25-16. The third set resulted in a nip-and-tuck battle until the Wildcats took over at 17-12, and only allowed four more points to win 25-16. The fourth and final set was another back-and-forth affair. With the match knotted at 14-14, the Wildcats jumped up 19-16 and held off the Mavericks for its third win of the season.
The Wildcats were led offensively by Kyle Kon (Oswego, N.Y.) with 16 kills and Jahari Winkfield (Oswego, Ill.) with 12 kills. Michael Krueger (Canonsburg, Pa.) led the match with 39 assists.
The second match of the day featured Daemen's first-ever meeting with D'Youville. All three sets were a battle as the Spartans did not win a set by more than three points. The Spartans were led by Pat Stroh offensively who had a match-high 11 kills. Evan Oliver of D'Youville and Krueger both registered 26 assists. Kon and Jesse Donorovich (Lockport, N.Y.) had 13 and 11 digs, respectively, for the Wildcats. Daemen struggled with 28 errors in the second match of the day compared to D'Youville's 17.
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 return to action again on Saturday, Feb. 23 when they travel to Philippi, West Va. for the Alderson Broaddus tri-match. Daemen will face Alderson Broaddus for the second time this season, followed by a match against Lincoln Memorial University. The matches begin at 12 p.m. and 3 p.m., respectively. Daemen defeated Alderon Broaddus 3-2 in the team's first-ever match back on Jan. 11.
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