AMHERST, N.Y. – Three up, three down.

That seems to be the recent trend for Daemen men's volleyball.

For the fourth time in their last five matches, the Wildcats won the first set and soon cruised to another 3-0 win (25-21, 25-20, 25-21) over the visiting Elmira Soaring Eagles Tuesday night at Lumsden Gymnasium to continue the program's historic home stand. 

Daemen has won five straight matches, improving to 7-2 this season. The Wildcats have won 26 of their last 30 matches dating back to February 2020.

Elmira, a member of NCAA Division III and the United Volleyball Conference, saw their chances of recording a third consecutive win denied and fell to 10-5 overall. The Soaring Eagles entered Tuesday night with some momentum after picking up a pair of wins over the weekend against Hilbert and Medaille, both also in three-sets affairs.

Daemen jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the opening set before Elmira responded with a four-point rally to cut the Wildcat lead to 8-6 and then later to within one point on two separate occasions. After two score ties, the Wildcats went back into the driver's seat, 14-11, and later, thanks to a key serving ace from Zach Schneider (Lockport, N.Y.) maintained this three-point advantage (16-13). Daemen later saw their lead grow to four points, 21-17. Elmira fought back again to only trail 22-21, however, Daemen secured the opening set, as Robert Patzer (Liverpool, N.Y.) and Henry Moffitt (Sydney, Australia) denied Elmira's attack (25-21.)

The second set was even tighter as there were four lead changes and two ties by the time Daemen secured an 8-6 lead. Daemen later opened up the second set to an 11-7 lead but the Soaring Eagles would not go away. After Daemen had another four-point lead (19-15), Elmira locked down and made the score, 20-17. However, both teams exchanged serving and attacking errors late in the second set. Daemen secured a 2-0 advantage in tonight's match off an Elmira serving error, 25-20.

For a third consecutive set tonight, Daemen earned the first point and quickly jumped out to a 4-2 lead before Elmira tied the score at 4-4. This resulted in five ties – the last at 8-8 – before the Wildcats found some breathing room with a three-point run (11-8.) Elmira brought the deficit with two points, 12-10, however, this would be as close as the Soaring Eagles would get for the majority of the third set. Daemen found themselves up as many as five points on three separate occasions (17-12, 23-18, 24-19.) Elmira found themselves within three points, 24-21, on one last occasion with hopes to extend the match into a fourth set but Robert Patzer (Liverpool, N.Y.) found the open space to deliver a giant swing in the front row to secure the set point, 25-21, and Daemen's fifth straight victory.

Daemen finished with 39 kills on a .312 hitting percentage. Elmira countered with 33 kills on a .238 hitting percentage.

IMPACT PLAYERS

• Graduate student and opposite hitter Robert Patzer (Liverpool, N.Y.) led all players with 16 kills on 26 swings (.577 hitting percentage) along with six digs.
• Junior outside hitter Zach Schneider (Lockport, N.Y.) joined Patzer in double-figure kills (10) and also had four blocks and led all players with four serving aces.
• Junior setter Gavin Musielak (Eden, N.Y.) once again ran the Wildcat offense and finished with a match-high 34 assists.
• Junior defensive specialist John Jaworski (Naperville, Ill.) led all players in digs (12).
• Junior outside hitter Ryan Parker (Fairport, N.Y.) finished with five kills and four digs while sophomore opposite Cameron Milligan (Pavilion, N.Y.) and senior middle Henry Moffitt (Sydney, Australia) posted four kills each. Moffitt also posted a season-high five blocks.
• Oscar Munoz Trinidad had a team-high 11 kills and Alberto Mauricio had 9 kills for the Eagles. Nieram Galan-Canales also had 24 assists.

GAME NOTES

• Daemen competes as an independent member of NCAA Division I-II while Elmira is a member of NCAA Division II and the United Volleyball Conference. 
• The Wildcats return 12 players from their 2021 team which finished with a 10-0 record - the only NCAA Division I-II team without a loss. 
• With tonight's win, Daemen is now 5-1 all-time against Elmira and have won five consecutive matches in the series since falling in the inaugural meeting, 3-1, on Feb. 13, 2019, which was also played at Lumsden Gymnasium. Two of Daemen's three wins in the series have occurred on Main Street.
• Tonight's match was the sixth in Daemen's nine-match home stand – the longest in program history. The Wildcats are 5-1 at home this season and have won 10 of their last 11 at Lumsden Gymnasium dating back to March 2020.
• Daemen has now won nine straight matches against NCAA Division III opponents in a stretch dating back to a pair of five-set losses at Wells College on Feb. 29, 2020.
• Daemen dominated from the service line and out-edged Elmira in service aces, 8-0, tonight. This is the second time this season where a Daemen opponent did not record a service ace (vs. Medaille, Feb. 1, 2022.) The Wildcats entered the match averaging 2.38 service aces per set, second in the country behind only Hawaii (2.88).
• Daemen played without starters Michael Krueger (Canonsburg, Pa.) and Jake Couzens (Hamburg, N.Y.) who continue to work their way back from injuries.

UP NEXT
Daemen's historic home stand continues Wednesday, February 23 when nationally-ranked Division III program Nazareth comes to town for a 6 p.m. match.
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.

Follow the Daemen College men's volleyball program on Twitter and Instagram at @DaemenMVB.