Wildcats Host D'Youville, STAC This Weekend

2/7/2024 2:31:00 PM

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

HOMETOWN HEROES
The Daemen University men's volleyball team returns to Lumsden Gymnasium for a pair of matches this weekend. The Wildcats open Northeast Conference play on Thursday when crosstown rival D'Youville University comes to play at 6 PM. The Wildcats will face first-year program St. Thomas Aquinas College on Friday at 6 PM in a non-conference tilt. Daemen enters this week's matches with a 4-2 overall record.

BIG WEEKEND
The Wildcats are coming off a 2-1 weekend on their Massachusetts road trip. Daemen opened up the three-match weekend on Friday with a thrilling 3-2 (25-20, 28-26, 22-25,19-25,16-14) victory over #12 ranked UC Santa Barbara in the first match of the Harvard Invitational. It marked the second win over a nationally ranked team in Daemen's six-year program history after the Wildcats topped #12 CSUN last season. Daemen senior opposite Cameron Milligan (Pavilion, N.Y.) led all hitters in the game with 17 kills. Junior outside hitter Billy Wieberg (Grand Island, N.Y.) and freshman Ondrej Arabasz (Jicin, Czech Republic) finished with 12 and 10 kills, respectively. The Wildcats finished with 57 kills for a .212 hitting percentage along with 13 total blocks, while UCSB had 54 kills for a .250 clip and six total blocks. In Saturday's matchup with #2 Grand Canyon, the Wildcats fell short against #2 Grand Canyon University on Saturday, dropping the finale of the Harvard Invitational 3-0 (20-25, 16-25, 19-25) to the Antelopes. Daemen put up quite the fight against the Lopes, finishing with 29 kills to GCU's 32. The difference in the game was the errors, with Grand Canyon allowing just nine attack errors to finish with a .365 hitting percentage while Daemen committed 22 attack errors and 15 service errors and hit at a season-low .093 in the loss. Fifth year outside hitter Zach Schneider (Lockport, N.Y.) totaled 10 kills with seven errors on 24 attacks for a .125 hitting percentage and was the only Wildcat player to tally double-digit kills. The Wildcats wrapped up the trip on Sunday by handling American International 3-0 (25-11, 25-17, 25-22) in the second meeting between the two teams in as many weeks. Daemen hit .435 in the win, totaling 37 kills with just seven errors on 37 attacks. Sophomore outside Kyle Zelasko (West Seneca, N.Y.) led the Wildcats offensively with nine kills for a .368 hitting percentage. The Wildcats held AIC to 27 kills on 82 attacks for a .134 hitting percentage.

WELCOME BACK TO CONFERENCE PLAY
Daemen enters their second year of NEC action with Thursday's match against D'Youville. The Wildcats finished 11-3 in the inaugural NEC season in 2023, finishing second to Sacred Heart in the regular season. Daemen fell to eventual tournament champion LIU 3-0 in the first ever NEC tournament semifinals. The Wildcats placed four on NEC All-Conference teams, with Schneider and Califf earning First Team honors and Milligan and graduate middle Henry Moffitt earning Second Team All-NEC honors. Daemen was picked second in the NEC Preseason Coaches Poll for the 2024 season.

WEEKLY AWARDS
For their efforts on the court last weekend, Milligan picked up NEC Player of the Week honors and Arabasz was named the NEC Rookie of the Week for the first time in his career. It marked the first time this season that the Wildcats earned NEC major weekly awards. Milligan finished with 27 kills for a .239 hitting percentage and led all Wildcat players with 17 kills against #12 UCSB, while Arabasz contributed 21 kills for a .555 hitting percentage with nine assisted blocks and three aces on the weekend.

MOVIN' UP IN THE POLLS
After the 2-1 week, the Wildcats moved up from No. 6 to No. 4 in the weekly Off The Block Division II Coaches Poll, released on Tuesday. Off The Block is a website dedicated to men's volleyball coverage and releases a weekly D-II top-10 every Tuesday. After Friday's top-15 upset over UCSB, for the first time in program history, the Wildcats are receiving votes in the AVCA National Men's Collegiate Volleyball poll.

UP NEXT
The Wildcats will hit the road for their first NEC doubleheader of the season, taking on Sacred Heart on Friday, Feb. 16 at 7 PM and Merrimack on Saturday, Feb. 17 at 4 PM.

THE SAINTS
After compiling a 10-13 overall record and 3-11 record in NEC play in 2023, the Saints were picked seventh in the NEC Preseason Poll coming into 2024. D'Youville has started hot this season, and is one of three teams in Division I men's volleyball that is still undefeated on the year, and comes into Thursday's match with a 4-0 record. The Saints swept American International, Roberts Wesleyan and Dominican 3-0 to start the year, and came away with a 3-2 win at St. Thomas Aquinas on Jan. 28. D'Youville is averaging 12.5 kills per set for a .269 hitting percentage on the year, and is led offensively by 6-foot-7 sophomore opposite Shaun Vattakuzhiyil with 40 kills (4.0 kills/set). 6-foot-5 middle blocker Tymek Brzoza, 6-foot-3 sophomore middle blocker Haven Wankerl and 6-foot-4 junior outside Jacob Malak have added 34, 33 and 31 kills, respectively.

SERIES HISTORY
The Wildcats own an 8-1 record over D'Youville, and have won the last eight meetings between the two.

THE SPARTANS
Playing in their inaugural men's volleyball season, the St. Thomas Aquinas Spartans come into this weekend with a 1-7 overall record. STAC picked up their first career win last Saturday in a 3-0 sweep over Sage, snapping a seven-match losing streak. The Spartans are averaging 9.59 kills per set for a .127 hitting percentage over their eight matches this season along with 1.48 blocks per set. 6-foot-6 freshman opposite Gabriel Viera leads the Spartans with 2.37 kills per set off of 64 total kills on the year, while 6-foot-3 outside hitter Nicholas Santos follows closely with 57 total kills to average 2.28 kills/set. 6-foot-4 freshman setter Kyren Versteegen leads the Spartans with 0.63 blocks per set along with 5.81 assists per set and a team-high 0.33 aces/set. Friday will be the first meeting between the two teams.

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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