Men's Volleyball Hosts Warner On Thursday Night

1/24/2024 11:25:00 AM

By: CONTACT: Mary Margaret Johnson, Assistant Athletics Communications Director | mmjohnso@daemen.edu

BACK AT IT
The Daemen University men's volleyball team welcomes NAIA member Warner University (Fla.) in the Royals' season opener on Thursday, Jan. 25 at Lumsden Gymnasium for a 6 PM match. The Wildcats come into the non-conference match up with a 1-1 record after topping American International College 3-0 in last Saturday's home opener.

LAST WEEK
The Wildcats notched their first win of the season with a 3-0 (25-9, 25-19, 25-18) victory over AIC on Saturday. AIC picked up the first point of the opening set, but from there, the Wildcats never trailed, finishing with 32 kills with a .391 hitting percentage in the match and adding seven total blocks in the victory. Ten different Wildcats recorded kills in the match, led by junior outside hitter Billy Wieberg (Grand Island, N.Y.) who finished with six kills on 10 attacks for a .400 hitting percentage. Junior middle blocker Ethan Sturm (Lisle, Ill.) added five kills on five total attempts with a perfect hitting percentage, while freshman outside hitter Jack Rooney (Lakeview, N.Y.) produced a .385 hitting percentage with five kills on 13 total attacks in his first collegiate match. Freshman setter Jariel Giraud (Orlando, Fla.) also saw his first action on Saturday, finishing with 24 assists in the sweep.

WEEKLY AWARDS
Wieberg picked up Northeast Conference Prime Performer honors for the first time in his career this week after his six-kill performance over the Yellowjackets on Saturday. It marked the first weekly award for the Wildcats in 2024. Daemen was represented in the NEC Weekly Awards in 13 of the 14 weeks in the 2023 season.

HOME, SWEET HOME
In Daemen's six seasons, the Wildcats own a 27-10 overall record at Lumsden Gymnasium. From the 2022 season to late in the 2023 season, Daemen owned a 16-match win streak at home which ranked in the top-three nationally. After dropping a five-set decision to Saint Francis on March 25, 2023, the Wildcats won their final three home games last season and after topping AIC on Saturday, are riding a four-match home win streak.

OFF THE BLOCK POLL
The Wildcats are ranked fifth in the latest Off The Block Division II Coaches Poll for week four of the 2024 season, as released on Tuesday afternoon. Off The Block is a website solely dedicated to the coverage of collegiate men's volleyball, and conducts a Division II national poll released every Tuesday. Daemen has been included in 29 straight OTB polls.

STAT CATS
On the year, senior opposite Cameron Milligan (Pavilion, N.Y.) leads the Wildcats offensively with 15 kills (3.0 kills per set), playing in five of Daemen's seven total sets on the year. Fifth year outside hitter Zach Schneider (Lockport, N.Y.), who was the first Daemen player to earn AVCA Honorable Mention All America in 2023, has posted 12 kills (2.40 kills per set) on the year. Freshman middle Ondrej Arabasz (Jicin, Czech Republic) has a team-high eight total blocks on the year after tallying an impressive seven block assists against Ohio State.

UP NEXT
The Wildcats will travel to Massachusetts next weekend, stopping first in Cambridge on the campus of Harvard to play a pair of nationally-ranked west coast teams in #17 University of California Santa Barbara on Friday, Feb. 2 at 4 PM, then taking on #5 Grand Canyon on Saturday, Feb. 3 at 5 PM. The Wildcats will travel to Springfield, Mass. to play at AIC on Sunday, Feb. 4 to complete their road trip around Massachusetts.

THE ROYALS
Coming off a successful 2023 season where they finished 16-7 overall and a perfect 10-0 in Appalachian Athletic Conference (NAIA) play, Warner opens their 2024 season at Daemen on Thursday. The Royals averaged 13.2 kills per set in 2023, but are without their top three offensive weapons who combined for 754 of their 975 total kills coming into this year. Warner returns seven players from last season's team, including senior libero/setter Imanol Davila-Morales who led the team with 168 digs and sophomore middle Romone Rudolph who totaled 38 blocks and 40 kills in 2023.

SERIES HISTORY
This is the first time the Wildcats and Royals will play.

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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