LA JOLLA, CA – Playing their second straight game against an AVCA Top-25 ranked team, the Daemen University men's volleyball team dropped their second match of the season against #18 University of California San Diego, 0-3 (18-25, 15-25, 20-25) on Friday night. The Wildcats will look for their first win of the Darek Przybyl era as they wrap up their West Coast road trip on Saturday in a rematch against Concordia University Irvine at 7 PM (PST).
 
IMPACT PLAYERS

• For the second game this season, graduate student outside hitter Zach Schneider (Lockport, N.Y.) led the Wildcats offensively with 9 kills on 21 attacks for a .286 hitting percentage while adding added three digs.
• Redshirt junior outside hitter Billy Wieberg (Grand Island, N.Y.) totaled four kills along with two aces, two assists and one dig.
• In just his second collegiate start, freshman middle blocker Patrick Mullen (Farmingdale, N.J.) finished with a career-high six kills while adding two digs.
• Sophomore setter Jariel Giraud (Orlando, Fla.) finished with 19 assists, one ace, two kills and two digs on the night.
• Junior libero Kyle Zelasko (West Seneca, N.Y.) led the Cats with five digs and added two assists.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• The Wildcats took the first point of the game with a kill from Arabasz. After a tied game at 5 all, the Tritons went on an 8-3 run to take a 13-8 advantage over the Wildcats after five Daemen errors. A pair of Mullen kills brought the Wildcats within four later, 15-11, but UC San Diego had six kills to get 10 points down the stretch to take the first set, 25-18. Daemen had nine kills and five errors in the set to hit.190 while the Tritons were 12 of 17 with two errors for a .588 hitting percentage. Mullen led the Cats in the first with three kills while Schneider and Arabasz each tallied two kills.
• After taking a 4-3 lead, the Tritons maintained the advantage throughout the second set and took the second, 25-15. The Wildcats committed 14 errors in the set and finished with just six kills.
• The Wildcats turned up the heat in in the third and went point for point with the Tritons from the beginning of the set until UC San Diego took a 16-14 lead. From there, the Tritons won six of the next seven points to break away from the Wildcats. The Tritons took the third set, 25-20, to take down Daemen in three.

GAME NOTES

• Since Daemen's inception in 2019, the Wildcats are 2-9 all-time against opponents ranked in the AVCA Top-25. Daemen's two wins over ranked teams were against #12 CSUN in 2023 and #12 UC Santa Barbara in 2024.
• The reigning Northeast Conference Tournament champions, Daemen was selected second in the 2025 NEC Preseason Coaches Poll, released on Wednesday.
• The Wildcats hurt themselves with errors tonight, compiling 19 attack errors and 20 service errors along with five reception errors.

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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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