BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Daemen College men's volleyball team split its two matches tonight in the the D'Youville Tri-Match. The Wildcats fell to Nazareth College by a match score of 3-2 (29-27, 25-17, 20-25, 17-25, 14-16) and defeated hosts D'Youville College by a match score of 3-1 (25-22, 25-27, 25-21, 31-29).
After a three week hiatus, the 1-1 record tonight moves the Wildcats to 5-12 on the season. The Nazareth College Golden Flyers advance to 14-10 and the Spartans drop to 4-15. Nazareth is a Division III member of the United Volleyball Conference while D'Youville is a member of the NCAA Division III Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference.
The first match against Nazareth started off with the Wildcats jumping out to a two set lead with the Golden Flyers coming back to equalize at 2 sets apiece. In the final set, the two teams traded blows to mirror the outline of the match. With neither team able to create more than a two point cushion, the Golden Flyers eventually went on a match-finishing three point run to wrap up the fifth and final set 16-14.
Offensively, the Wildcats were led by Kyle Kon (Oswego, N.Y) with 17 kills and Jesse Donorovich (Lockport, N.Y.) with 10 kills. Michael Kreuger (Canonsburg, Pa.) contributed with 44 assists. Donorovich also had 11 digs with Kon contributing 10 digs.
Zach Gilliard, of the Golden Flyers, had a match high 19 kills and Tyler Farnung had 53 assists.
The second match led the Wildcats to face off against the D'Youville Spartans for the second time this season. The Wildcats fell 3-0 in the first matchup.
The Wildcats were led by Jahari Winkfield (Oswego, Ill.) with 17 kills and Krueger with 43 assists. Kruger also had 14 digs.
The Spartans were led by Zac Bochacki with 13 kills and Karl Jauch with 30 assists.
After losing in straight sets in the first match against D'Youville, the Wildcats roared back winning the first set of the match. All four sets were decided by four points or less with Daemen winning the last set 31-29.
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 next weekend in the St. John Fisher Tri-Match facing off against St. John Fisher College and Vassar College in Rochester, N.Y. on Saturday, March 30.
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