AMHERST, N.Y. --
Michael Krueger (Canonsburg, Pa.) and
Ethan Sturm (Lisle, Ill.) of the Daemen University men's volleyball team have been named Northeast Conference Prime Performers for competitions taking place April 1-7.
The Wildcats picked up a pair of 3-0 wins over first-year program Roberts Wesleyan on Thursday and Saturday to move to 16-6 overall on the year. Daemen sits tied with LIU for second in the NEC at 7-3 and will wrap up conference play this weekend with home matches against Merrimack and Sacred Heart on Friday and Saturday.
Krueger earns his second NEC Prime Performer award of the season after totaling 18 digs (3 digs/set), 46 assists (7.6 assists/set) and four blocks over two wins. The 6-foot-2 graduate libero/setter served as Daemen's primary setter over the weekend and posted his first double-double (assists-digs) on Thursday with 26 assists and 10 digs in the 3-0 sweep over Roberts Wesleyan, marking the third match this season that Krueger posted double-digit digs. He finished with 20 assists and eight digs on Saturday afternoon. Krueger leads the Wildcats with 134 digs on the year, and ranks third in the conference with 2.44 digs per set.
Sturm, a 6-foot-5 junior middle blocker, picked up his first NEC weekly honor of the season after leading the Wildcats with 11 total kills over Roberts Wesleyan this weekend, finishing with zero errors on 16 attacks for a .691 hitting percentage while playing in two of three sets in both matches. The junior added three digs, two blocks and one assist over the two matches. Sturm was one of 11 players to record a kill in Saturday's win over the Redhawks, leading the Wildcats offensively with six kills and zero errors to hit at a .667 clip. In Friday night's win, he finished with five kills and zero errors on seven attacks for a .714 hitting percentage while adding three digs and two block assists over two sets. Sturm, who has played in 12 of Daemen's 22 matches on the year and started in six, has 40 total kills, averaging 1.54 kills er set on 68 attacks for a .515 hitting percentage. He has 18 total blocks (0.69 blocks/set), 13 digs and five aces on the 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.
Follow the Daemen men's volleyball program on Twitter and Instagram at @DaemenMVB.
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