AMHERST, N.Y. - Zach Yerington (Hamburg, N.Y.) of the Daemen College men's volleyball team has earned two weekly honors from Off The Block, a website that specializes in the coverage of collegiate men's volleyball. The 6-foot-5 graduate student was named the Independent Teams Player of the Week as well as the National Opposite of the Week.
Yerington registered 36 kills to lead the Wildcats to a thrilling 3-2 win over Lincoln Memorial on Sunday afternoon. Daemen dropped the first two sets to the two-time defending Independent Volleyball Association (IVA) champs, but rallied to take three-straight, including an 18-16 deciding set that was capped with back-to-back kills from Yerington. The Western New York native had 58 attempts in the match, and finished with a .466 hitting percentage. He also posted season-highs of four service aces and six digs in the win.
The performance will certainly go down as the most impressive to date in the brief two-year history of Daemen's program as Yerington smashed the previous team record for kills in a match (21 set last season by Jahari Winkfield). His 36 kills are also the most for any Division I/II player in a single match this season.
"He just brings a different level of physicality and experience to our team that we were kind of lacking last year," Daemen head coach Don Gleason said of Yerington in an interview posted to Off The Block on Sunday evening. "He's certainly shown in the gym, like shown our younger guys what the next level can look like, but this was really his breakout game of the year where he just really showed up. Quite frankly, he was just kind of unstoppable with the ball so we really rode him down the stretch."
Yerington also posted 10 kills on a .381 hitting percentage in a four-set win over Urbana University earlier on Sunday. He recorded seven kills and two blocks in a three-set loss at Ball State University on Saturday night. For the week, Yerington totaled 53 kills on a .318 hitting percentage. He averaged 4.42 kills per set.
The Independent Teams Player of the Week recognizes the player with the best performance from NCAA Division I/II men's volleyball teams that are competing without a conference affiliation. The seven independent teams this season are Alderson Broaddus, Daemen, Lincoln Memorial, Queens (N.C.), St. Francis-Brooklyn, Tusculum and Urbana.
Off the Block's National Opposite of the Week is one of five position-based awards recognizing the best performances in NCAA Division I/II men's volleyball during the week. Other positions recognized are libero, middle attacker, outside attacker and setter. Additional position-based weekly recipients this week are Justin Lui of Stanford (National Setter of the Week), Aleksa Lakic of Emmanuel (National Outside Attacker of the Week), Shane Holdaway of Long Beach State (National Middle Attacker of the Week) and Addison Enriques of Concordia-Irvine (National Libero of the Week). A.J. Lewis of Lindenwood was also recognized as the National Freshman of the Week.
Yerington has appeared in eight of Daemen's 10 matches this season, helping the Wildcats to an even 5-5 record. He leads the team in total kills (106) and kills per set (3.53).
The 2020 season is Yerington's first at Daemen. He began his career at The Ohio State University where he helped the Buckeyes capture Division I/II national championships in 2016 and 2015. Before attending Ohio State, Yerington was a two-time All-Western New York and All-Sate First Team selection while playing for Hamburg High School. He is a 2019 graduate of Ohio State, and is pursuing a Master's Degree in Leadership and Innovation at Daemen.
Yerington and the Wildcats return to action later this week at the Wells Classic Tournament (Feb. 14-15). They'll face tournament host Wells, as well as SUNY Potsdam and Penn State Altoona.
Daemen College features the only NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.
