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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
Califf set at NEC semifinals
0
FDU FDU 12-15,5-7 NEC
3
Winner Daemen Daemen 19-6,9-3 NEC
FDU FDU
12-15,5-7 NEC
0
Final
3
Daemen Daemen
19-6,9-3 NEC
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 F
FDU FDU 23 21 13 (0)
Daemen Daemen 25 25 25 (3)

Game Recap: Men's Volleyball | | CONTACT: Mary Margaret Johnson, Assistant Athletics Communications Director | mmjohnso@daemen.edu

Wildcats Advance To NEC Championship With 3-0 Semifinal Win Over FDU

LORETTO, Pa. – For the first time in program history, the Daemen University men's volleyball team advanced to the Northeast Conference Championship match, taking down the No. 4 seed FDU Knights 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-13) in the semifinal match on Thursday afternoon. The No. 2 seeded Wildcats move to 19-6 on the year with the victory and punched their ticket to Saturday's NEC Tournament final where they will face the winner of No. 1 Saint Francis and No. 6 Sacred Heart at 4 PM in Loretto, Pa. on the campus of Saint Francis. The Wildcats, who fell in the 2023 NEC Tournament semifinals to eventual champions LIU, are now 1-1 all-time in the conference tournament. 
 
Daemen and FDU played close for the first two sets today, putting together late comebacks in both the first and second set to come out with the victory but saving their best for last with a 12-point win over the Knights in the third. The Wildcats narrowly out-killed the heavy hitting Knights 39 to 36 on the night and kept the attack errors to a minimum, totaling just 12 all match to finish with a .409 hitting percentage and holding the league's top hitter in Jamal Ellis Carballo and company to a .167 clip on the day. Daemen's first team All-NEC outside hitter Zach Schneider (Lockport, N.Y.), Ellis Carballo and FDU's Ethan Young all finished with a match-high 10 kills on the day. 

IMPACT PLAYERS
  • Two days after earning First Team all-conference honors for the second straight season, Schneider posted 10 kills and added two aces, five block assists and two digs for a match-high 14.5 points. The fifth year outside hitter tallied double-digit kills for the 17th match this season and led the Wildcats offensively for the 16th match.
  • First-Team All-NEC senior opposite Cameron Milligan (Pavilion, N.Y.) finished with nine kills on 14 attacks for a .429 hitting percentage, adding one assist and five digs on the day. 
  • 2024 NEC Rookie of the Year Ondrej Arabasz (Jicin, Czech Republic) totaled eight kills with zero errors on nine attacks for a .889 clip, adding one solo block, two assisted blocks and one dig to total 10 points. 
  • Second Team All-NEC fifth year setter Sean Califf (Oak Park, Ill.) finished with 32 assists (10.6 assists/set), six digs and three kills on four attacks for a .750 clip.
  • Junior middle Maverick O'Neill (East Amherst, N.Y.) posted seven kills, five block assists and one ace for 10.5 points in the match.
  • Sophomore Kyle Zelasko (West Seneca, N.Y.) totaled five digs for the Wildcats. 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
  • Daemen opened the first set doubling up the Knights, taking an 8-4 lead early. After an FDU timeout, the Knights went on a 6-1 run to tie it up at 10. From there, the Wildcats and Knights traded points through to the end of the set. Daemen was down 23-22 late but would score three unanswered points off two Schneider kills and an FDU attack error to take the first set, 25-23.
  • The Knights out-hit the Wildcats 16-11 in the first, with the FDU duo of Jamal Ellis Carballo and Dylan McFadden combining for 10 kills in the first. Schneider, O'Neill and Arabasz each tallied three kills for the Wildcats in the first.
  • The Wildcats and Knights played close to start the second set. After tying it up at 14, Daemen outscored FDU 12-7 down the stretch to take the second 25-21. Milligan tallied five kills for the Wildcats in the set as Daemen out-hit FDU 13 to 12 in the set.
  • Daemen opened the third on an 8-3 run, totaling five kills to start the set hitting at a .714 clip. The Wildcats kept their foot on the gas, taking as much as a 16-9 lead over FDU in the middle of the set. From there, Daemen would outscore the Knights 9-4 to cruise to a 25-13 third set victory to sweep in three sets FDU for the second time this season.
  • This marked the fourth straight match and the 10th match this season that Daemen hit .400 or better. 
  • After back-to-back 20+ service error matches, the Wildcats finished with a season-low seven errors from the service line today, and added four aces.
  • Daemen's 39 total kills is tied for fourth-most kills in a three-set match for the Wildcats this season. 
  • O'Neill, who has been having a standout junior campaign for the Wildcats at the net, finished with five block assists, marking the 13th time this season that he had multiple blocks in a match.
  • As the Wildcats' leader in hitting percentage on the year, Arabasz hit .800 or better for the fifth time this season with his .889 clip.
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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