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mvb yerington top 10 moments

Top 10 Moments of 2019-20: Yerington Supplies The Power In Thrilling Men's Volleyball Win

7/22/2020 11:30:00 AM

AMHERST, N.Y. - On Wednesdays and Fridays this summer, daemenwildcats.com will feature stories that look back upon the top 10 moments of the 2019-20 season. Record-setting performances, important wins and history-making achievements will be documented in the series.

THE MOMENT:
Yerington supplies the power in thrilling Men's Volleyball win
Graduate student Zach Yerington (Hamburg, N.Y.) put on the most impressive offensive display in the brief two-year history of the Daemen men's volleyball program, providing the physical oomph in a thrilling 3-2 defeat of fellow NCAA Division II independent Lincoln Memorial in a neutral site match played February 9 at Urbana. Yerington totaled 36 kills in the match, obliterating the previous program record (21 by Jahari Winkfield vs. Misericordia on March 2, 2019).

The performance would also put Yerington on the national stage, his 36 kills being the most for any Division I/II men's volleyball player during the 2020 season. He also became the first player with 35+ kills in a match since Arvis Greene had 40 for Cal State Northridge against UC-Irvine in 2018. Just days later, Yerington would be named Independent Teams Player of the Week and National Opposite of the Week by Off The Block, a website that specializes in the coverage of collegiate men's volleyball.

"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 following the match. "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's prowess nearly overshadowed the result of the match, a win that Gleason called "a huge step" for the program. It came against an LMU program that Gleason has used as a measuring stick since the addition of men's volleyball at Daemen was announced in May of 2017. The 2020 season marked the fourth in program history for the Railsplitters who captured the Independent Volleyball Association (IVA) title in 2019. LMU would finish the COVID-19-abbreviated 2020 season with just four losses in 18 matches, including two against Division II opponents (Daemen and Lindenwood [Mo.]). 

Daemen dropped the first two sets (15-25, 19-25) before rallying for the reverse sweep of the Railsplitters. The Wildcats led throughout the third, but saw LMU pull within 24-23. Sophomore setter Michael Krueger (Canonsburg, Pa.) set up freshman outside hitter Zach Schneider (Lockport, N.Y.) for the set-ending kill, one of 19 kills for the Daemen greenhorn.

The fourth set ended 25-23 in Daemen's favor as well. Winkfield and Schneider came up with back-to-back kills to put Daemen on the precipice at 24-22. Following a Daemen service error, another Schneider kill forced the match to a fifth and deciding set. 

With LMU holding a 6-5 lead in the fifth, the Wildcats put together a 6-1 run that featured two kills by Yerington. Extra points were needed before Yerington capped off his outstanding day with back-to-back kills to give the Wildcats the set (18-16) and the win. 

The win was Daemen's second of the day (also a 3-1 defeat of Urbana), a pair of results that launched the Wildcats on a program-record seven-match winning streak spanning February 9-23. The Wildcats would finish the season with a 12-7 record, doubling their inaugural season win total despite having their final 10 matches cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Yerington, who began his collegiate career at Ohio State and helped the Buckeyes to national championships in 2015 and 2016, would go on to lead the Wildcats in kills per set (3.25) and was named to the Off The Block/Frisco Mo All-Independent Team along with Schneider. He'll return to the Wildcats for the 2021 season, utilizing an extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA to spring sport student-athletes whose 2020 seasons were impacted by the pandemic.
ADDITIONAL TOP 10 MOMENTS FROM THE 2019-20 SEASON:

Daemen College features the premier 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.

 
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