FAIRFIELD, CT -- For the second straight match, the Daemen University men's volleyball team came outon the winning side of a five-set thriller, topping Sacred Heart 3-2 (25-13, 24-26, 28-30, 25-21, 15-11) on Sunday afternoon. The Wildcats win their seventh straight match and their third straight Northeast Conference match, moving to 8-1 on the year and a perfect 3-0 in NEC play. Sacred Heart drops to 3-6 on the season and 1-1 in conference matches. 

After the Wildcats put an exclamation point on the first set with a 25-13 victory, the Pioneers put up a fight, crawling back in both the second and third sets to take the match to a pivotal fourth set. Sacred Heart again put together a late rally, but the Wildcats were able to hold off the late attack to win the fourth 25-21 and force a fifth set. Daemen pulled out the fifth set victory 15-11 off nine kills to take the match.

Daemen finished with 69 kills on 144 attacks for a .313 hitting percentage while holding the Pioneers to just 50 kills and a .167 hitting percentage, with three Wildcats finishing with double-digit kills in the win. Daemen senior outside hitter Zach Schneider (Lockport, N.Y.) put together a career day, leading all hitters on the court with a career-high 26 kills (5.2 kills per set) on 50 attacks for a .400 hitting percentage. Sacred Heart's Patrick Mucherino finished with a team-high 18 kills. 

The Wildcats return home to Lumsden Gymnasium for the first time since Jan. 28 when they host D'Youville on Thursday, Feb. 23. 

IMPACT PLAYERS

• On top of his 26-kill performance, Zach Schneider finished with a match-high 28 points, adding three assists, two assisted blocks and seven digs to his stat line. 
• Junior outside hitter Cameron Milligan (Pavilion, N.Y.) totaled 17 kills (3.4 kills per set) on 34 attacks for a .265 hitting percentage. Milligan finished with seven digs, two blocks (one solo, one assisted), an ace and an assist for 19.5 points.
• Graduate student middle hitter Henry Moffitt (Sydney, Australia) tallied 13 kills (2.6 kills/set) and just two errors for a match-high .524 hitting percentage, adding five assisted blocks, an assist and a dig to his stat line for 15.5 points. 
• Senior opposite Jake Couzens (Hamburg, N.Y.) led the Wildcats at the net with seven total blocks, finishing with five assisted blocks and two solo blocks on the day. Couzens tallied five kills for a .214 hitting percentage, while adding an assist and an ace. 
• Senior setter Sean Califf (Oak Park, Ill.) finished with his third double-double of the season, totaling a season-high 57 assists (11.4 assists per set) and 10 digs (2.0 digs/set). Califf added two kills for a .250 hitting percentage, an ace and three total blocks, two assisted and one solo.

GAME NOTES

• Daemen earns their first victory over Sacred Heart. The Wildcats and Pioneers last met on Jan. 22, 2022 at Sacred Heart where the Wildcats fell in another five set thriller, 3-2. 
• The Wildcats out-killed Sacred Heart 13-6 with just two attack errors in the first set for an impressive .579 hitting percentage.
• Daemen led by five points halfway through the first, then went on a 10-3 tear to take the first set 25-13. 
• Zelasko led all Daemen hitters in the first with four kills on six attacks for a .667 hitting percentage. Schneider tallied three kills, while a trio of Wildcats in Couzens, Milligan and Moffitt each totaled two kills.

• The Pioneers opened the second set with a 10-6 advantage but the Wildcats put together a 6-2 run to tie the set up at 12 a piece.
• With the Wildcats on set point, Sacred Heart scored four unanswered points, including back-to-back service aces, to take the second set 26-24 and tie the match up at one a piece.
• Schneider totaled nine second-set kills with just one error.
• Sacred Heart again put together a late set run to take the third set 30-28. The Wildcats out-killed the Pioneers 16 to 13, but totaled 10 attack errors and six service errors.
• With the Pioneers threatening to take the match with another late rally, bringing the fourth set within three, 23-20, Moffitt notched a kill to take it to set point and the Wildcats took the fourth set 25-21 off a Sacred Heart service error.
• Errors were abundant for the Wildcats in the match. Daemen finished with 22 service errors on the day, tying Friday night's season-high, and seven Wildcats tallied service errors. The Cats posted a season-high 24 attack errors. 
• Seven Daemen players recorded a total of 24 blocks for the Wildcats today.
• The Wildcats have now won seven straight matches. 
• The Wildcats were predicted to finish fourth in the conference in the NEC preseason poll. 
• Daemen joined the NEC for the conference's first ever men's volleyball season in 2023. The Wildcats and Warriors are two of eight teams playing in the NEC's inaugural season. 
• Daemen is ranked sixth in in the latest Off The Block Division II Coaches Poll of the 2023 season.
• The Wildcats are now 42-9 in their last 51 matches, a span that dates back to February 2020.