Game #4
Daemen Wildcats (2-1, 0-0 NEC) vs. Central State Marauders (3-2, 0-0 SIAC)
Date: Saturday, Jan. 28
Time: 1 PM
Location: Amherst, N.Y. | Lumdsen Gymnasium
Live Stream: via
NEC Front Row
Live Stats: via
daemenwildcats.com
Exhibition #1
Daemen Wildcats (2-1, 0-0 NEC) vs. St. John Fisher Cardinals (7-1, 0-0 UVC)
Date: Sunday, Jan. 29
Time: 2 PM
Location: Pittsford, N.Y. | Manning & Napier Varsity Gym
Live Stats: via
sjfathletics.com
SERVES UP
The 2-1 Daemen University men's volleyball team will play a pair of matches in the final weekend of January. The Wildcats host 3-2 Central State on Saturday afternoon at Lumsden Gymnasium at 1 PM. Daemen then hits the road for the first of six away matches in an exhibition against Division III powerhouse St. John Fisher, who comes into the exhibition match with a 7-1 overall record and ranked No. 7 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Div. III poll.
HOME, SWEET HOME
Saturday's match marks Daemen's final home match until Feb. 23. The Wildcats are currently 2-0 in matches on their home court this season. Daemen is 37-9 in their last 46 matches, a span that dates back to February 2020. Daemen owns a 16-3 home record in that span. The Wildcats have not lost at home since Jan. 29, 2022 - a 3-2 setback to St. Francis College Brooklyn.
A LOOK BACK AT LAST WEEK
After dropping their first match of the season to No. 4 Penn State on Jan. 13, the Wildcats got back into the win column last Saturday with a 3-0 victory over winless American International. Daemen racked up 38 kills, more than double AIC's total (17), and posted a .343 hitting percentage in the sweep. Graduate student
Michael Krueger (Canonsburg, Pa.) served as the primary setter for the Wildcats and finished with 28 assists (9.33 assists per set), as well as a team-high six kills with a .667 hitting percentage and four digs in the win. Freshman
Kyle Zelasko (West Seneca, N.Y.) tallied six kills and two digs, while senior
Zach Schneider (Lockport, N.Y.) finished with five kills on nine attempts with a .556 hitting percentage, a team-high four service aces, and three solo blocks and an assisted block for a team-high 12.5 points through just two sets.
WEEKLY AWARDS
Krueger picked up his first conference award of his five-year Daemen career this week. The setter was named one of the First Point/Northeast Conference Prime Performers after his play against AIC, and became the third Wildcat to earn conference honors this season. Schneider was named First Point/NEC Player of the Week last week, and setter
Sean Califf was named a Prime Performer for his performance against Princeton in the season opener.
WELCOME TO THE COURT
Sophomore middle blocker
Ethan Sturm (Lisle, Ill.) made his Daemen debut against AIC on Saturday, and finished with five kills and just one error for a .667 hitting percentage in the two sets that he played. Sturm, a transfer from Alderson Broaddus, came to Daemen right before the start of the 2023 season. He played in 20 of 29 matches with 14 starts for the Battlers in his freshman season, and totaled 93 kills (1.6 kills per set) on the year. Sophomore middle hitter
Maverick O'Neill (East Amherst, N.Y.) saw his most extensive play of the young season on Saturday and totaled four kills on five attacks for a .600 hitting percentage against the Yellowjackets. O'Neill also tallied three service aces, and finished with two digs and two assisted blocks in the victory.
POLL POSITION
Daemen is ranked sixth in the Week Two
Off The Block Division II Coaches Poll, released on Wednesday. Off The Block is a website solely dedicated to the coverage of collegiate men's volleyball which conducts a Division II national poll each Wednesday. It marks the 14th straight week that the Wildcats have been included in the poll. Daemen was ranked fifth in the first poll of the season released last week.
UP NEXT
The Wildcats travel to Cambridge, Mass. take on Harvard on Friday, Feb. 3 in a 7 PM match.
SCOUTING THE CENTRAL STATE MARAUDERS
Playing in just their second season, the Marauders posted a 14-13 overall record in 2022 and a 9-1 record in Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) play in the conference's inaugural men's volleyball season. Central State topped all three opponents in the SIAC Tournament and came away as the conference's first ever men's volleyball champions with a 3-2 W over Edward Waters. After dropping their first two games of the young 2023 season to Division I ranked opponents in No. 14 Ohio State (0-3) and No. 4 Penn State (1-3), Central State won their next three games and come into Saturday's match with a 3-2 overall record. The Marauders have been narrowly out-hit on the season, but have posted a season-long hitting percentage of .224 compared to just .198 for their opponents through the first five matches. A pair of sophomore outside hitters in
Cameron Lee and
Ljubisa Novakovic lead Central State offensively, with Lee posting 51 kills (2.68 kills per set) for a .263 hitting percentage, and Novakovic following closely by with 43 kills (2.87 kills/set) after he posted back-to-back 14-kill matches. Sophomore middle blockers
Tamo-Noche Alain and
D'Aaron McCraney combine for 32 of Central State's 44 total blocks on the year.
ALL-TIME RECORD VS. CENTRAL STATE
Series Record: 1-0 Daemen
Home Record: 1-0 Daemen
Last Meeting: 3-0 Daemen (25-20, 25-19, 25-22) | Feb. 26, 2022 | Amherst, N.Y.
SCOUTING THE ST. JOHN FISHER CARDINALS
After posting a 24-8 record in 2022 and a trip to the Div. III NCAA Tournament, St. John Fisher comes into Sunday's exhibition with the Wildcats with a 7-1 record on the season, and are ranked No. 7 in the most recent AVCA Division III poll. The Cardinals' only loss this season came at the hands of No. 4 ranked Stevens in their fourth match of the season, but since the Jan. 15 loss, Fisher won the next four matches to come out of the SUNY Poly Wildcat Invitational with a perfect 4-0 record, dropping just three sets in four matches. The Cardinals average 11.4 kills per set, and are led offensively by fifth year outside hitter
Josh Bigford with 94 kills (3.48 kills per set) who boasts just 12 errors on 205 attacks and a .400 hitting percentage on the year. Bigford also leads the Cardinals with a .978 reception percentage on 134 receptions and just three errors. Junior middle blocker
Griffin Stella ranks second on the team with 47 kills (1.74 kills/set), and four players total 30 kills on the year. Stella leads the team at the net with 28 blocks, while sophomore libero
Trace La Robardiere totals 57 digs (1.9 digs per set).
ALL-TIME RECORD VS. ST. JOHN FISHER
Series Record: 3-2 Daemen
Away Record: 1-1
Last Meeting: 3-2 Daemen (26-24, 26-28, 17-25, 28-26, 15-11) | Feb. 6, 2022 | Amherst, N.Y.
Daemen University 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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