AMHERST, N.Y. -- For his performances in the final weekend of the regular season, Daemen University men's volleyball outside hitter
Zach Schneider (Lockport, N.Y.) picked up Northeast Conference men's volleyball honors. The senior was named a First Point/NEC Prime Performer, earning his 10th weekly honor of the season. The awards are for competitions taking place April 10 through 16, and the Wildcats have been included in 13 of a possible 14 conference awards this season.
Schneider, a 6-foot-6 outside hitter, totaled 27 kills and 15 digs, one ace and one block over the weekend in Daemen's losses to Fairleigh Dickinson University and Saint Francis University. In Sunday's regular season finale against the Red Flash, Schneider posted a match-high 23 kills (5.75 kills/set) on 40 attacks while hitting at a .425 clip, and added 11 digs for his fourth double-double (kills-digs) of the season. Schneider's 23 kills broke Daemen's single-match record for kills in a four-set match (the previous record was 21 set by Schneider vs. Mount Union on March 18, 2022). It marked the second single-match kill record broken by Schneider this season (he broke the three-set kill record against Concordia Irvine on March 15). He continues to leave his mark on the Daemen program, breaking the program's single-season kill record last weekend by eclipsing his own record of 257 kills set in the 2022 season.
This marked the fifth First Point/NEC Prime Performer honor for Schneider this season. He was also named the First Point/NEC Player of the Week a conference-record five times this season. As one of the top offensive players in the league, Schneider finished the regular season with 299 kills to average 3.74 kills/set (third in the NEC) for a .369 hitting percentage (third in the NEC), while leading the Wildcats with 150 digs to average 1.88 digs/set (fifth in the NEC), and ranks third on the team with 25 aces (sixth in the NEC) and blocks (37).
Daemen has been represented in 13 out of a possible 14 NEC weekly reports since the beginning of their season. Schneider and Milligan have each been named Player of the Week,
Henry Moffitt (Sydney, Australia) has been named the Defensive Player of the Week twice, while Zelasko, Schneider, Moffitt, Milligan,
Sean Califf (Oak Park, Ill.) and
Michael Krueger (Canonsburg, Pa.) have each been named Prime Performer this season. Califf has been named a Prime Performer six times, and Moffitt has earned it twice.
The Wildcats will begin postseason play on Thursday as the No. 2 seed in the inaugural NEC Conference Tournament. Daemen will play in the NEC semifinal on Thursday at 4 PM in Loretto, Pa. on the campus of Saint Francis University.
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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