Men's Volleyball Begins Postseason Play In NEC Semifinals On Thursday

4/17/2024 5:00:00 PM

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

TOURNAMENT TIME
The Daemen University men's volleyball team opens postseason play at the Northeast Conference Tournament in Loretto, Pa. this week on the campus of NEC regular season champion Saint Francis University. The Wildcats, who fished the regular season with an 18-6 overall record and 9-3 record in conference play, enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed and received a first-round bye, making their debut in the NEC Semifinals on Thursday at 4 PM. Daemen will face the No. 4 seed FDU Knights in the semifinals after FDU topped No. 5 Merrimack, 3-1, in the quarterfinals on Wednesday evening. In the second semifinal, No. 1 Saint Francis will play No. 6 Sacred Heart at 7 PM. The winners of both semifinal matches will advance to play in the NEC Championship on Saturday, April 20 at 4 PM.

LAST WEEKEND
The Wildcats wrapped up the regular season with a pair of 3-1 victories over Merrimack and Sacred Heart this past weekend. In Friday's win over the Warriors, Daemen finished with 54 kills and just 13 total errors on 93 attacks to hit .441 on the night, while holding Merrimack to just 32 kills for a .146 hitting percentage. A trio of Wildcats posted double-digit kills, with fifth year outside hitter Zach Schneider (Lockport, N.Y.) leading all players with 15 kills. Freshman middle blocker Ondrej Arabasz (Jicin, Czech Republic) finished with 12 kills with a Daemen single-match record .857 hitting percentage, while senior opposite Cameron Milligan (Pavilion, N.Y.) totaled 10. Fifth year senior setter Sean Califf (Oak Park, Ill.) finished with 39 assists (9.75 assists/set) and tied a single-season record four kills on four attacks for a 1.00 clip, adding three digs, one ace and one block assist. The Wildcats followed up with a 3-1 win over Sacred Heart in the regular season finale on Saturday, outhitting the Pioneers 60 to 44. Schneider led the Wildcats offensively for the 15th match this season after totaling 18 kills for a .353 hitting percentage, while Milligan totaled 16 kills on 25 attacks for a .520 clip in his final match at Lumsden Gymnasium. Schneider and Milligan combined for 34 of Daemen's 60 total kills. Califf finished his final home game with 44 assists (11 assists/set), four kills on four attacks for a 1.00 hitting percentage and two block assists. As Daemen's all-time dig and assist leader, graduate student Michael Krueger (Canonsburg, Pa.) finished his Senior Day with seven digs and seven assists, tallying his 500th career dig and 2,000th career assist in the match.

LOOK BACK AT THE SEASON
The Wildcats set a program record for wins (18) with their victory over Sacred Heart in the regular season finale. For the second year in a row, Daemen posted a win over a top-20 team, beating No. 12 UC Santa Barbara, 3-2, at the Harvard Invitational on Feb. 2 in Cambridge, Mass. After their win over the nationally-ranked Gauchos, Daemen broke into the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) top-20 for the first time in program history, first receiving votes in the Feb. 6 national poll then coming in at T-20th in the nation in the AVCA National Men's Volleyball poll released on Feb. 19. The Wildcats spent two weeks at No. 20, earning a program-best 33 points in both Week 7 (Feb. 19) and Week 8 (Feb. 26) polls, but dropped out of the national rankings with a 3-1 home loss to Harvard on March 1 which snapped an eight-match win streak. Daemen dropped three conference matches this season, falling at Saint Francis in a doubleheader on March 22-23, and dropping their third match in a row at LIU on March 29. The Wildcats closed out the season on a five-match win streak and come into the NEC Tournament at 18-6 overall.

ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
Four Wildcats picked up All-Conference honors on Tuesday, with Ondrej Arabasz (Jicin, Czech Republic) earning NEC Rookie of the Year. Milligan and Schneider were two of eight players on the All-NEC First Team, while Arabasz and Califf earned Second Team All-NEC. It marked the second consecutive all-conference nod for Schneider, Milligan and Califf. Arabasz is joined by a trio of major award winners from the regular season champions Saint Francis, with junior opposite Nathan Zini earning Player of the Year, senior libero Peyton Blain earning Defensive Player of the Year and head coach Mike Rumbaugh being named NEC Coach of the Year for the second year in a row.

CAM THE MAN
After being named to the 2023 All-NEC Second Team, Milligan earns First Team all-conference honors on the heels of a solid senior season. The 6-foot-6 opposite was one of three players to appear in all 24 matches on the season, starting in 22, and ranks second on the team with 233 total kills and sixth in the league with 3.11 kills per set while ranking third in the NEC with a .350 hitting percentage. Milligan also ranks third in the league with 0.40 aces per set (30 total), sixth in points per set (3.88) and ranks third on the team with 48 total blocks. The senior tallied double-digit kills in 16 matches this season, including a season-high 17 kills in Daemen's big 3-2 upset over #12 UC Santa Barbara on February 2. Ranking second all-time in the Daemen record books with 667 total kills, Milligan has a career .289 hitting percentage, 87 aces, 266 digs and 116 blocks over his four year career, appearing in 80 matches and playing in 265 total sets. Milligan was a two-time NEC Player of the Week and three-time Prime Performer this season.

SCHNEIDER ON FIRE
Schneider earns First Team All-NEC for the second straight season after putting together a stellar fifth year campaign. As the Wildcats' offensive leader, Schneider ranks third in the league with 3.87 kills per set (294 total) and sixth in the NEC with a .301 hitting percentage. His 27 service aces rank eighth in the conference, and he ranks fourth in the NEC with 4.47 points per set on the year. He became the first player in program history to tally 1,000 career kills, earning the pivotal milestone in a 3-0 victory at D'Youville on Feb. 29. Schneider has posted double-digit kills in 16 matches this season and led the Wildcats offensively in 15 matches. He posted a season-high 22 kills twice this season, first against Sacred Heart on Feb. 16 and again on March 22 at Saint Francis. Daemen's all-time leading attacker has 1,166 total kills for a .305 hitting percentage over five seasons, 124 aces, 148 blocks and just tallied his 500th career dig against Sacred Heart in the regular season finale on Saturday to sit at 502 total digs. Schneider earned First Point/NEC Player of the Week three times this season and was named a Prime Performer eight times throughout the year.

THE ARABASZ ERA
A 6-foot-7 middle blocker from Czech Republic, Arabasz impressed from the minute he stepped onto the court for his freshman season and earns the second NEC Rookie of the Year award and Second Team All-NEC honors. Arabasz put together a record-setting year, becoming the program's single-season block leader with 74 total blocks and in the final weekend of the regular season, the middle blocker set Daemen's single-match hitting percentage record after hitting at a .857 clip against Merrimack on April 13. He is tied for first in the NEC with 0.93 blocks per set and ranks third on the team and kills (134) while leading the Wildcats with a .489 hitting percentage this season. Arabasz recorded multiple blocks in all but three matches this season, and was one of three players alongside Milligan and Schneider to play in all 24 matches, starting 23. He earned NEC Rookie of the Week three times this season.

SEAN WITH THE SET
Califf earns All-NEC honors for the second straight season, finishing his collegiate career out with Second Team all-conference honors. With total 690 assists on the year, Califf ranks third in the conference with 9.45 assists/set and sixth in the league with 1.77 digs per set, ranking second on the team with 129 digs. He also ranks third on the team with 40 total blocks this season. The fifth year ranks second in Daemen's record books for career assists with 1,469 total assists over two seasons, and owns the top two spots in the program's single-season assists record books with 779 assists in 2023 and 690 assists in 2024. Califf was named a Prime Performer four times in 2024.

REGULAR SEASON STAT ROUNDUP
The Wildcats finished atop the conference in seven different categories this regular season, leading the NEC in points (16.02 points/set), hitting percentage (.329), kills (12.24 kills/set), digs (9.12 digs/set), opponent hitting percentage (.190), opponent digs (7.76 digs/set) and opponent blocks (1.37 blocks/set).

THE KNIGHTS
After posting a 12-14 overall record on the year and a 5-7 record in conference play this season, FDU advanced to their first NEC Tournament as the No. 4 seed. The Knights played No. 5 Merrimack in a very close quarterfinal match on Wednesday night and earned their first NEC Championship win in program history with a 3-1 victory over the Warriors, topping Merrimack 25-23, 27-25, 20-25, 25-23 to punch their ticket to the semifinals. The Knights average 11.4 kills per set with a .222 hitting percentage and are led offensively by 2024 First Team All-NEC opposite Jamal Ellis Carballo. The 6-foot-6 sophomore leads the league and ranks third nationally with 4.41 kills/set and is fourth in Division I men's volleyball with 9.29 attacks per set. 6-foot-2 junior setter Jose Angarita ranks fifth in the conference with 9.18 assists per set, while 6-foot-1 junior libero Grady Hoffman ranks third in the NEC with 2.28 digs per set on the year. 6-foot-3 senior outside Ethan Young ranks second on the team offensively (2.72 kills/set) with 212 total kills and is seventh in the league with 1.74 digs/set.

SERIES HISTORY
The Wildcats own a 4-1 record over the Knights and topped FDU in both meetings in the 2024 regular season, winning 3-1 at Lumsden Gymnasium on Feb. 23 and 3-0 on March 30 at FDU.

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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