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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
MVB_group huddle
Geoff Schneider
1
Daemen Daemen 17-6,11-3 NEC
3
Winner Saint Francis (PA) SF-PA 14-11,11-2 NEC
Daemen Daemen
17-6,11-3 NEC
1
Final
3
Saint Francis (PA) SF-PA
14-11,11-2 NEC
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Daemen Daemen 20 28 17 19 (1)
Saint Francis (PA) SF-PA 25 26 25 25 (3)

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

Wildcats Claim No. 2 Seed In NEC Tournament After Falling To Saint Francis In Regular Season Finale

LORETTO, Pa. – In a battle for the inaugural Northeast Conference regular season title, the Daemen University men's volleyball team suffered a 3-1 (20-25, 28-26, 17-25, 19-25) loss to Saint Francis University in the regular season finale. Daemen finishes the regular season with a 17-6 overall record and an 11-3 record in conference play.
 
The Wildcats will be the No. 2 seed in the inaugural NEC championship tournament next weekend and will have a first-round bye. With the win today, the Red Flash win the very first NEC regular season title and will host the tournament, finishing the season off with a 12-2 conference record.
 
Just like in the first meeting between these two teams, the Wildcats and Red Flash traded points throughout the match, and just like in the first meeting, SFU picked up the first set victory, 25-20. Daemen came back and won the second set, 28-26, taking it to extra points just like in the March 25 matchup. Saint Francis turned up the heat in the third and fourth sets though, winning the third 25-17 after out-killing the Wildcats by 10, and took two separate runs in the fourth set to outlast the Cats, 25-19 and take the match.
 
Daemen finished the match posting 42 kills and hit at a .221 clip on the day. Senior outside hitter Zach Schneider (Lockport, N.Y.) finished with a team-high 23 kills (5.75 kills/set), breaking the program record for kills in a four-set kill match. Schneider tied the match-high with SFU's Andrew Deardorff, who also posted 23 kills in the Red Flash win.
 
IMPACT PLAYERS
  • Zach Schneider posted 23 kills on 40 attacks for a .425 hitting percentage, while adding 11 digs and one ace for a team-high 24 points. It marked the senior outside hitter's fourth double-double (kills-digs) of the season. After breaking the program record for single-season kills, Schneider finished the regular season with 299 kills (3.74 kills/set) for a .369 hitting percentage, and leads the Wildcats with 150 digs (1.88 digs/set), while ranking third on the team in aces (25) and blocks (37).
  • Junior opposite Cameron Milligan (Pavilion, N.Y.) finished with six kills, four digs, two aces, one assist and one solo block for nine points. Milligan finished the regular season with 234 kills (2.82 kills/set) for a .244 hitting percentage, along with 26 aces, 80 digs and 32 blocks.  
  • Graduate student middle hitter Henry Moffitt (Sydney, Australia) posted six kills for a .267 hitting percentage, and totaled two blocks and one assist on the day. After breaking the program record for blocks in a single season, Moffitt wrapped up the regular season with 63 blocks (0.76 blocks/set) and 151 kills (1.82 kills/set).
  • Senior setter Sean Califf (Oak Park, Ill.) finished with 36 assists (9 assists/set) and eight digs, while adding an ace and two blocks on the day. Califf broke the Daemen single-season assist record last weekend, and finished the regular season with 740 assists (9.02 assists/set), while adding 148 digs (1.80 digs/set) and 36 blocks. 
GAME NOTES
  • This marked the fourth meeting between Daemen and Saint Francis. The Red Flash had won all three previous matches, including the March 25 meeting (3-2) that ended Daemen's 13-match home win streak, which was the longest active win streak in NCAA Division I-II at the time. 
  • The Red Flash staved off a late Daemen comeback to take the first set, 25-20.
  • Schneider (5 kills) and Moffitt (4 kills) led the Wildcats offensively in the first with the pair of upperclassmen combining for nine of Daemen's 12 first-set kills. The Wildcats hit at a .308 clip in the first.
  • The Wildcats came right back in the second to win the second set in extra points, 28-26. Daemen posted 13 kills and a .346 hitting percentage in the second set. Schneider recorded six second-set kills.
  • Despite an early Daemen lead, the Red Flash went on a 10-2 run in the middle of the third set to take a six-point lead over the Wildcats. Saint Francis would go on to win the third set 25-17, and take a 2-1 set advantage over the Wildcats.
  • Daemen posted just seven kills compared to 17 SFU kills in the third set and finished the third with a .036 hitting percentage.
  • The Red Flash began the fourth with the same intensity, and after being down two to the Cats early, went on a 6-0 run to take the four-point lead over the Wildcats. Daemen and SFU traded points from there, but the Red Flash would go on to win five of the last seven points to take the fourth and final set, 25-19.
  • Much like Friday night's 3-1 loss to Fairleigh Dickinson, errors plagued the Wildcats throughout the match. Daemen tallied 19 attack errors and 14 service errors in the match, along with five reception errors, one block error and one ball handling error. 
  • The Red Flash out-blocked Daemen 15-5 on the day. Just three players recorded blocks in the match (Califf, Moffitt and Milligan). 
  • 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.
UP NEXT
As the No. 2 seed in the NEC Tournament, the Wildcats get a first-round bye and an automatic trip to the conference semifinals. Daemen will play in the first semifinal match at 4 PM on Thursday, April 20. Seeds 3 through 6 will play in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, April 19, and the teams will be re-seeded after the first round. More info in the NEC Tournament Central here. 
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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