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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
MVB_Maverick O'Neill service
Geoff Schneider
1
Daemen Daemen 17-5,11-2 NEC
3
Winner Fairleigh Dickinson FDU 6-17,3-7 NEC
Daemen Daemen
17-5,11-2 NEC
1
Final
3
Fairleigh Dickinson FDU
6-17,3-7 NEC
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Daemen Daemen 18 14 25 20 (1)
Fairleigh Dickinson FDU 25 25 23 25 (3)

Game Recap: Men's Volleyball | | CONTACT: Mary Margaret Johnson, Assistant Athletics Communications Director | mmjohnso@daemen.edu

Cats Drop Wild Match At FDU, 3-1

TEANECK, N.J. – The Daemen University men's volleyball team suffered a disappointing 3-1 (18-25, 14-25, 25-23, 20-25) loss to Fairleigh Dickinson University on Friday evening. It marked just the second loss in conference play for the Wildcats this season. Daemen moves to 17-5 overall and an 11-2 record in Northeast Conference play, while FDU wins just their third NEC win all season and improves to 6-17 overall, staying alive in the NEC Tournament hunt. 

The Knights came out hot in the first two sets and handled Daemen, topping the Cats 25-18 in the first and cruising to a 25-14 win in the second. Daemen switched to their reserve players for the pivotal third set, swapping in Michael Krueger (Canonsburg, Pa.), Maverick O'Neill (East Amherst, N.Y.), Ethan Sturm (Lisle, Ill.), John Jaworski (Naperville, Ill.), Jake Basinski (Eden, N.Y.), Billy Wieberg (Grand Island, N.Y.) and Matthew Garry (Depew, Ill.) in for the starters. After a crazy back-and-forth third set, the Wildcats came away on top, 25-23, to avoid a sweep by the Knights and sending the match to a fourth set. FDU took the fourth set, 25-20, and won the match. Jamal Ellis Carballo of FDU was the heavy hitter of the day, ripping 19 of the 52 Knight kills in the match. Basinski and O'Neill both finished with a team-high seven kills for the Cats tonight. 

Fighting for the top seed in the conference and the right to host the inaugural NEC Championship Tournament next week, the Wildcats' regular season finale against Saint Francis will be for all the marbles. After the Red Flash took down D'Youville 3-0 tonight, both teams come into the match with 11-2 records in conference play. Tomorrow's winner will take the regular season title and the top seed in the tournament, and will have hosting duties for the NEC Tournament, held April 19 through 22. Daemen and Saint Francis square off in Loretto, Pa. tomorrow at 4 PM. 

IMPACT PLAYERS
  • Sophomore outside hitter Jake Basinski finished with a career-high 7 kills on 12 attacks for a .333 hitting percentage. Playing in just his fifth match in his career, Basinski added two digs, an ace and an assist to his stat line over the two sets that he saw action, and finished with a team-high 8 points. 
  • Sophomore middle hitter Maverick O'Neill had a career-high afternoon in the two sets that he played in. O'Neill totaled a career-high seven kills on eight attacks for a career-high .875 hitting percentage, while adding one dig on the day. 
  • Sophomore middle blocker Ethan Sturm played in his third match as a Wildcat, and finished the day with a season-high six kills on seven attacks while hitting at a .857 clip, and chipped in one assisted block. 
  • Playing in just the first two sets, graduate student Henry Moffitt (Sydney, Australia) totaled five kills on eight attacks for a .625 hitting percentage, and totaled one assisted block. 
  • Graduate setter Michael Krueger posted 27 assists (13.5 assists/set) and added two kills on three attacks for a .333 clip along with one solo block and one assisted block in the final two sets of the match. 
GAME NOTES
  • Tonight's match marked the third time in program history that Daemen and FDU met, and the second time in NEC play. The Wildcats swept the Knights in the first conference matchup this season, 3-0 on March 24. 
  • The Knights opened up the first with an 11-7 run after Daemen sent three serves straight into the net. From there, the Wildcats would put together a 9-5 run to tie the set up at 16, but FDU would win nine of the next 11 points to take the first set, 25-18.
  • The Wildcats' first set loss marked the first time that Daemen dropped a set to FDU. They were 6-0 in sets all-time over the Knights.
  • Daemen posted 11 kills in the first but totaled seven service errors in the set.
  • Like the first, FDU got out quick to start the second set scoring five of the first six points of the set. The Knights led by as much as 10 points in this one, taking a 22-12 lead over the Wildcats in the second. FDU went on to take the second set 25-14.
  • Daemen hit just .063 in the second, totaling just six kills. The Knights hit at a .583 clip in the set.
  • FDU's Ethan Young, Jamal Ellis Carballo and Artem Vetrov combined for 21 of the Knights' 28 kills through the first two sets.
  • The Wildcats had not dropped the first two sets of a conference match all season.
  • After losing the first two sets, Daemen switched lineups for the third set, swapping in Michael Krueger (Canonsburg, Pa.), Maverick O'Neill (East Amherst, N.Y.), Ethan Sturm (Lisle, Ill.), John Jaworski (Naperville, Ill.), Jake Basinski (Eden, N.Y.), Billy Wieberg (Grand Island, N.Y.) and Matthew Garry (Depew, Ill.). O'Neill blasted a kill for the first point of the third, and from there Daemen opened up on a 4-2 run.
  • With their reserves in the game, the Wildcats squeaked out a third set victory, 25-23, over FDU to force a fourth set and avoid a sweep in conference play for the first time this season.
  • Daemen posted 17 kills for a .387 hitting percentage in the third. Basinski led the Cats in the third with five kills for a .500 hitting percentage and added an ace, while O'Neill added four kills while hitting at a .800 clip. Krueger totaled 14 assists in the set and added two kills, while Garry led the team in the set with three digs and posted two kills. Sturm had the game winning kill, and finished with two kills on two attacks for a 1.00 clip and added two digs.
  • The Wildcats fought their way from back behind throughout the fourth set. At the end of the set with FDU up 23-16, the Wildcats won four of the next five points to stay in the game on the Knights' set point, including a challenge by Daemen that overturned the potential FDU match winner. Califf sent his final serve into the net to end the match, with FDU taking the fourth set 25-20.
  • Daemen finished with 47 kills compared to FDU's 52 on the day, while hitting at a .277 clip. The Knights posted a .417 hitting percentage, marking the second largest hitting percentage by an opponent on the season (Penn State hit at a .467 clip in their 3-0 win over the Wildcats in the second match of the season on Jan. 13). A season-high 12 Daemen players recorded kills tonight. 
  • The Wildcats remained ranked fifth in the latest Off The Block poll after a pair of NEC victories over Sacred Heart and Merrimack last weekend.
  • Daemen accepted an invitation to join the Northeast Conference back in May, marking a significant stride for the program which has competed as an NCAA Division I-II independent since its inception in 2019. With support from the First Point Volleyball Foundation, the NEC announced men's volleyball as the league's 25th championship sport in September of 2021.
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.

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