Men's Volleyball to Face Saint Francis In NEC Championship

4/19/2024 3:42:00 PM

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

CHAMPIONSHIP MENTALITY
For the first time in program history, the Daemen University men's volleyball team will play in the Northeast Conference Tournament championship game where they will face No. 1 seeded Saint Francis on Saturday, April 20 at 4 PM. As the No. 2 seed in the tournament, the Wildcats received a first round bye and advanced to the championship game after topping FDU 3-0 in the semifinals on Thursday afternoon. Daemen comes into the NEC Championship with a 19-6 overall record, while Saint Francis is 21-8 on the year and earned the top seed and hosting rights in the tournament after finishing with a perfect 12-0 record in regular season conference play.

SEMIFINAL VICTORY
The Wildcats avenged last season's semifinal loss with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-13) win over No. 4 FDU on Thursday. 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. 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.

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.

BIG TIME DEFENSE
Daemen ranks second in the nation in opponent hitting percentage, with their defense allowing opposing offenses to hit just .190 on the year. In eight matches this season, the Wildcats have held their opponents to hit under .100. Though the Wildcats lead the NEC in opponent hitting percentage through all matches this season, in conference matches they rank second at .218 behind only Saint Francis, who held their opponents to a .199 clip in 12 NEC matches.

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 RED FLASH
No stranger to the NEC Championship, the two-time NEC regular season champs return to the tournament championship match for the second year in a row after a 3-0 win over #6 Sacred Heart in the semifinals on Thursday afternoon. Saint Francis claimed the No. 1 seed in the tournament after becoming the first program in NEC men's volleyball history to go undefeated in conference play, finishing 12-0 in the regular season. The Red Flash are riding a nine-match win streak coming into Saturday's championship, and haven't fallen since losing 2-3 to #10 Penn State on March 17. Of SFU's eight losses this season, six of them have come against nationally-ranked opponents, and five of those losses were to top-10 teams. The Red Flash placed four players on all-conference teams and won three of the four major awards this season, with junior opposite Nathan Zini earning 2024 NEC Player of the Year, senior libero Peyton Blain earning Defensive Player of the Year and head coach Mike Rumbaugh earning Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season. Zini leads the Red Flash offensively and ranks fourth in the conference with 3.78 kills per set, totaling 389 kills on the year for a .335 hitting percentage and leads the NEC with 0.59 aces per set (61 total) to tally 4.52 points per set (third-most in the league). 6-foot-5 junior outside Andrew Deardorff ranks second on the team with 2.9 kills per set and is fourth on the team with 40 total blocks. The Red Flash offense is run by 6-foot-3 senior setter Ryan Parker, who earned First Team All-NEC honors after averaging 9.52 assists per set (second in the league), 0.48 aces per set (second in the league) and 1.52 digs per set (10th in the league). 6-foot-7 redshirt sophomore Nicholas Lynch leads the Red Flash with 72 total blocks (fifth in the NEC) on the year. Blain, who earned All-NEC honors for the second straight season, leads the league with 2.81 digs per set, totaling 306 on the year.

SERIES HISTORY
Saint Francis owns a 6-0 all-time record over the Wildcats, and is one of two teams that Daemen has played multiple times and never beaten. SFU is 4-0 against the Wildcats in NEC play.

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