AURORA, N.Y. - The Daemen College men's volleyball team broke even during opening-day action of the Wells College Invitational here tonight. The Wildcats opened the day with a 3-0 loss to SUNY Polytechnic Institute (22-25, 17-25, 18-25), before rebounding with a 3-0 victory over Lasell College (25-15, 25-19, 25-18).
Daemen is now 4-9 in its inaugural season. SUNY Poly improved to 8-7 with the win, while Lasell dropped to 5-8.
Daemen held an 18-17 lead in the opening game against SUNY Poly, but SUNY Poly put together a 5-2 run and opened up a 22-20 lead. Daemen tied the score at 22-22, but SUNY Poly scored three unanswered points to secure the win. Game two was tied at 13-13 when SUNY Poly took control with an 8-2 run. Game three was similar to game two, as it was tied at 14-14 before SUNY Poly rallied with an 8-1 run.
Freshman Jahari Winkfield (Oswego, Ill.) had a team-high eight kills for Daemen, while fellow rookie Henry Moffitt (Sydney, Australia) totaled six kills and just one hitting error. Freshman Michael Krueger (Canonsburg, Pa.) registered 22 assists.
Sophomore Donovan Suguitan posted nine kills and four blocks for SUNY Poly, while senior Piotr Kasza handed out 20 assists.
Daemen jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the first game against Lasell, but the Lasers answered with a 5-2 run. Daemen was up 9-8 when the Wildcats rallied with a 7-1 run that gave Daemen an 18-10 lead. Lasell came no closer than seven points the rest of the way. Daemen was up 11-9 in game two when the Wildcats took control with five unanswered points. Lasell cut the lead to five points several times down the stretch, but could never get any closer. Daemen scored the first three points of game three and later took a 12-5 lead following a kill by Krueger. The Wildcats later took a double-digit lead (20-10) following a kill by redshirt freshman Brandon Casterline (North Tonawanda, N.Y.) and the teams traded points the rest of the game.
Casterline and freshmen Jesse Donorovich (Lockport, N.Y.) and Kyle Kon (Oswego, N.Y.) paced a balanced Daemen attack with 10 kills each, while Krueger totaled 36 assists and five digs. Donorovich also recorded a team-high 10 digs.
Sophomore Aaron Waitekus totaled a team-high six kills for Lasell, while senior Nate Gallo registered 18 assists.
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 tournament continues tomorrow (Mar. 2). The Wildcats will face Misericordia University at 2 p.m., before squaring off against Wells College at 4 p.m.
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