AMHERST, N.Y. – The Daemen University men's volleyball team posted their fourth straight Northeast Conference victory with a 3-1 (26-28, 25-17, 25-20, 25-18) win over the FDU Knights on Friday night. The Wildcats, who sit undefeated atop the NEC standings, move to 4-0 in conference play and 9-2 on the year.
Coming into tonight's match with a 6-4 record, FDU played Daemen tough, mounting a late comeback in the first to take the first set in extra points, and kept the Wildcats on their toes throughout the match. The Knights' duo of 6-foot-6 sophomore opposite Jamal Ellis Carballo and 6-foot-3 senior outside hitter Ethan Young combined for 30 kills tonight as FDU narrowly out-hit Daemen 49 to 48 on the night. Errors were the difference maker in this one, as the Wildcats cut down on mistakes across the board, (33 total errors for Daemen, 51 errors for FDU) and Daemen finished with 48 kills with 16 errors on 97 attacks for a .330 hitting percentage while the Knights hit at a .255 percentage after committing 21 hitting errors. As it has been throughout the season, the Wildcat duo of
Zach Schneider (Lockport, N.Y.) and
Cameron Milligan (Pavilion, N.Y.) led the way for Daemen, with the pair combining for 28 kills in the victory.
The Wildcats will host reigning NEC Tournament champs LIU on Saturday at 1 PM at Lumsden Gymnasium.
IMPACT PLAYERS
- After picking up his first NEC Player of the Week this season on Tuesday, Schneider posted 17 kills and six errors on 30 attacks for a .367 hitting percentage tonight, adding eight digs, four block assists, one solo block, two aces and one assist for a team-high 22 points.
- Milligan totaled 11 kills with four errors on 27 attacks to hit at a .259 clip in the match, adding a match-high four aces, four digs, three block assists, one solo block and one assist for 17.5 points.
- Freshman middle Ondrej Arabasz (Jicin, Czech Republic) finished with nine kills on 15 attacks with three errors for a .400 hitting percentage while totaling four block assists, one solo block and one assist.
- Fifth year setter Sean Califf (Oak Park, Ill.) totaled 38 assists (9.5 assists/set), eight digs, two block assists, one ace and one kill tonight.
- Junior outside hitter Billy Wieberg (Grand Island, N.Y.) finished with six kills and zero errors on 13 attacks for a .462 hitting percentage while adding five digs, one ace, one assisted block and one assist on the night.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Daemen broke into the AVCA/NVA National MVB Top-20 poll for the first time in program history this week, coming in tied at 20th in Division I men's volleyball. The Wildcats remain ranked third in the weekly Off The Block Division II Coaches Poll.
- The Wildcats and Knights traded points to open the first set, with the Wildcats taking a 13-7 lead after five early kills from Schneider, Milligan and O'Neill. Daemen led by as much as 17-11, but FDU mounted an 11-5 comeback off of seven Knight kills and four Wildcat errors, to tie the game up at 22. From there, it was a race to win by two, with the first set going into extra points. FDU won four of the final six points to take the first set, 28-26. The Knights out-hit Daemen 15-13 in the first for a .323 hitting percentage, while Daemen hit .226 in the set.
- Daemen came into the second on fire, starting the set 9-3 and while scoring six of seven points off four kills – three in a row from Wieberg. Just like in the first, the Knights put together a comeback in the middle of the set to bring it within three, 18-15, but from there the Wildcats went on a 4-0 run off three kills from Milligan and Schneider. FDU snapped the Daemen run with a pair of points off a kill and Daemen attack error, but the Wildcats won the final three points of the set after Schneider got a kill and the Knights committed back-to-back attack errors. Daemen took the second 25-17 to tie the game up after totaling 13 kills for a .375 hitting percentage and allowing just seven FDU kills for a .042 clip. Schneider and Wieberg led the way for the Wildcats in the second with five kills apiece.
- The Knights kept it close but the Wildcats stayed in the lead for the majority of the third after a back-and-forth start to the set. After a 4-2 run late, FDU made it a 20-18 game off two kills and two Daemen errors, but the Wildcats capitalized on the heavy hitters Schneider and Milligan for a pair of kills each down the stretch to tally the 25-20 third-set victory for Daemen.
- The only time the Wildcats trailed in the fourth set was in the first four points of the game, 4-3, but a pair of service aces by Milligan helped pump some fire into the Wildcats, and Daemen never looked back from there. The Cats handled FDU throughout the set, finishing with a 25-18 fourth-set victory after hitting at a .500 clip after totaling 12 kills with just two errors on 20 attacks over the Knights in the set. Arabasz led the way for the Wildcats with five fourth-set kills.
- Daemen totaled eight service aces. Milligan served up half of those (4 tonight), while Schneider, Wieberg and Califf all contributed aces for the Wildcats tonight.
- It was a block party for the Cats tonight! Daemen totaled 11 blocks on the night, posting 17 block assists and three solo blocks in the win. Six different Wildcats got in on the party at the net tonight. Schneider and Arabasz each tallied four block assists.
- With tonight's 3-1 win over FDU, Daemen moves to 3-1 all-time over the Knights. The Wildcats' sole loss came in the final weekend of regular season play last year.
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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