Match #16
Daemen Wildcats (12-3, 6-0 NEC) vs. Fairleigh Dickinson Knights (4-12, 1-5 NEC)
Date: Friday, March 24
Time: 6 PM
Location: Amherst, N.Y. | Lumsden, Gymnasium
Live Stream: via
NEC Front Row
Live Stats: via
daemenwildcats.com
Tickets
Match #17
Daemen Wildcats (12-3, 6-0 NEC) vs. Saint Francis Red Flash (7-11, 4-2 NEC)
Date: Saturday, March 25
Time: 4 PM
Location: Amherst, N.Y. | Lumsden Gymnasium
Live Stream: via
NEC Front Row
Live Stats: via
daemenwildcats.com
Tickets
HOME, SWEET HOME
After a week-long trip to California, the Daemen University men's volleyball team returns home to Lumsden Gymnasium and returns to Northeast Conference play this weekend with a pair of NEC matches. The Wildcats will host Fairleigh Dickinson in a Friday evening match (6 PM), and play host to Saint Francis on Saturday afternoon (4 PM) to round out the first half of conference play.
WEST COAST WEEK
The Wildcats finished their trek around California with a 1-2 record over three matches against impressive teams. Daemen opened their stay on the West Coast with a 3-0 loss to Concordia University Irvine on Wednesday to snap their 10-match win streak, which was the longest active win streak in the country. Senior outside hitter
Zach Schneider (Lockport, N.Y.) put on a clinic with a match-high 17-kill performance, setting a Daemen program record for most kills in a three-set match and finishing with a .394 hitting percentage against the Golden Eagles. On Friday, the Wildcats dropped their second match in a row with a 3-0 loss to No. 7 ranked Pepperdine, with Schneider leading all hitters with 12 kills, freshman defensive specialist
Kyle Zelasko (West Seneca, N.Y.) totaling five kills and a season-high .625 hitting percentage, and senior opposite
Jake Couzens (Hamburg, N.Y.) leading the Cats at the net with four blocks. The Wildcats put together an outstanding California finale on Saturday as they notched the program's first ever win over a nationally-ranked team, upsetting No. 12 Cal State Northridge 3-2 in a five-set thriller. Schneider and junior opposite
Cameron Milligan (Pavilion, N.Y.) combined for 40 of Daemen's 57 total kills. Schneider tied a career-high 26 kills for a .488 hitting percentage, and Milligan finished with 14 kills on the day.
WEEKLY AWARDS
For the fifth time this season, Schneider was named the First Point/NEC Player of the Week for his efforts in California. The 6-foot-6 senior totaled 55 kills (5 kills/set) for a .401 hitting percentage after leading the Wildcats offensively in all three kills on the week, and added 14 digs and two solo blocks to his stat line over the three matches. Senior setter
Sean Califf (Oak Park, Ill.) picked up his fourth conference honor, being named a First Point/NEC Prime Performer after tallying 98 assists (8.9 assists/set), including a big 45-assist night to help the Wildcats knock down 57 kills in Daemen's 3-2 win over CSUN. Califf finished with 18 digs, one kill, an ace and two blocks on the week.
FOR THE RECORD
There have been a few records broken already in the 2023 season.
Zach Schneider broke the program record for most kills in a three-set match with his 17-kill performance over CUI on Wednesday, breaking the 16-kill record set by
Robert Patzer (vs. Elmira on Feb. 15, 2022) and himself (vs. Tusculum on April 22, 2022).
Kyle Zelasko set the Daemen program record for six aces in a single match against D'Youville on Feb. 23, snapping the five-ace records set by
Ryan Parker (vs. Medaille, Feb. 23, 2020), Patzer (vs. AIC, Jan. 21, 2022), Milligan (vs. AIC, Feb. 12, 2022) and Parker again (vs. Nazareth, Feb. 23, 2022).
Sean Califf established a new program record for assists during a five-set match against Sacred Heart back on Feb. 19. He posted a career-high 57 assists in the 3-2 win, breaking the previous record of 54 set by current teammate
Michael Krueger (Canonsburg, Pa.) vs. Lincoln Memorial on Feb. 9, 2020.
STAT CATS
In matches played through March 23, Daemen ranks atop the NEC in points (15.79 points/set), hitting percentage (.284), lowest opponent hitting percentage (.197), kills (11.93 kills/set), service aces (1.83 per set) and fewest opponent aces (1.07 per set). The Wildcats rank second in the league in assists (10.74 assists/set), opponent assists (9.35 assists/set), opponent kills (10.22 kills/set), blocks (2.03 blocks/set) and opponent digs (7.96 digs/set). Middle hitter
Henry Moffitt (Sydney, Australia) leads all NEC hitters with a .402 hitting percentage and ranks eighth in the league in blocks (0.75 blocks/set). Schneider leads the Wildcats with 183 kills and ranks second in the NEC in hitting percentage (.382) and fourth in kills per set (3.79) on the year, while ranking second in the league in points (4.40 points/set) and ranking second on the team in service aces (18) and digs, tallying 78 on the season to average 1.59 digs/set. Milligan ranks third in the NEC for service aces (0.38 aces/set) and eighth in both kills (2.82 kills/set) and points (3.50 points/set). Califf ranks third in the NEC in assists (9.08 assists/set) and sixth in digs (1.86 digs/set), while Zelasko is sixth in the NEC for service aces (0.35 aces/set).
IN-CONFERENCE STATS
Through six NEC matches, the Wildcats have shown out against their conference opponents. Three Wildcats rank in the top-five in hitting percentage (Couzens in second with a .437 percentage, Moffitt in third with a .429 percentage and Schneider in fifth with a .371 percentage). Schneider ranks third in kills (3.43 kills/set), Califf leads the league in assists (9.55 assists/set), while Zelasko (0.60 aces/set), Milligan (0.48 aces/set) and Schneider (0.43 aces/set) are the top three players in service aces in conference play.
POLL POSITION
After topping nationally-ranked CSUN and hanging with No. 7 Pepperdine and Concordia last week, Daemen moved up to fifth in the most recent
Off The Block Division II Coaches Poll for week 11 of the 2023 season, as released on Wednesday. Off The Block is a website solely dedicated to the coverage of collegiate men's volleyball, and conducts a Division II national poll every Wednesday. Daemen has been included in 21 straight OTB polls.
UP NEXT
Daemen hits the road for the second half of NEC play. The Wildcats will take on Long Island University on Friday, March 31 in a 7 PM match, and then head to St. Francis Brooklyn for a Saturday (April 1) match up at 1 PM.
SCOUTING THE FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON KNIGHTS
While the FDU men's basketball team made history by upsetting top-seeded Purdue in the first round of the men's NCAA Tournament as a 16 seed, the FDU men's volleyball team has seen more of a struggle this season. Playing in just their second season as a program and their first season in a conference, the Knights come into Friday night's match with a 4-12 overall record. FDU is 0-3 on the season in three matches against nationally-ranked teams, with back-to-back losses against No. 13 BYU in late January and a loss to No. 15 CSUN in early February. Offensively, the Knights are led by freshman phenom
Jamal Ellis Carballo and sophomore outside hitter
Jack Lydon, who are the only two players to tally triple-digit kills on the year, and combine for 253 of FDU's 624 total kills. Carballo ranks third in the conference with 3.79 kills/set and has been named the First Point/NEC Rookie of the Week for the last two weeks. The Knights offense is run by graduate student setter
Rui Fernandes who averages 8.28 assists per set and also leads the team with 98 total digs on the year (1.96 digs/set). Freshman middle blocker
Naveen Fernando is FDU's main blocker with 33 total blocks this season.
ALL-TIME SERIES RECORD
Series Record: 1-0 Daemen
Home Record: 1-0 Daemen
Last Meeting: 3-0 Daemen (25-19, 25-14, 25-17) | March 26, 2022 | Amherst, N.Y.
SCOUTING THE SAINT FRANCIS RED FLASH
A longtime member of the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA), the Red Flash left to play in the Northeast Conference for this inaugural season. After packing their 2023 schedule full of matches against nationally ranked teams (six, to be exact), the Saint Francis Red Flash come into Saturday's matchup with a 7-11 overall record and a 4-2 record in NEC play. Saint Francis has three players with triple-digit kills this season, with senior outside hitter
Blake Liprando leading the way with 154 kills (2.66 kills/set). Junior setter
Ryan Parker averages 8.31 assists per set, and ranks second in the NEC with 0.40 aces/set (22 total aces).
ALL-TIME SERIES RECORD
Series Record: 2-0 St. Francis
Away Record: 2-0 St. Francis
Last Meeting: 3-1 St. Francis (25-20, 23-25, 19-25, 27-29) | April 1, 2022 | Loretto, PA
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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