AMHERST, N.Y. -- The defending Northeast Conference Tournament champion Daemen University men's volleyball team was picked second in the 2025 NEC Preseason Poll, as released by the conference on Wednesday morning. Over the past two seasons playing in the conference, the Wildcats have finished second in the regular season and won their first NEC Tournament title this past season.

Saint Francis University, winners of the past two NEC regular season titles, was picked first in the preseason poll and garnered three first-place votes. The NEC Tournament-winning Wildcats earned one first place vote and are tied with Fairleigh Dickinson University for second in the conference. FDU also earned one first place vote. Long Island University is fourth in the conference, and D'Youville University is the fifth and final team in the NEC Preseason Poll. 

Daemen is coming off the program's first ever NEC Tournament Championship title after topping FDU 3-0 in the NEC semifinals and earning the program's first win over top-seeded Saint Francis in a 3-1 Finals victory. The Wildcats also posted their second all-time win over an AVCA-ranked opponent during the season when they topped No. 12 UC Santa Barbara, 3-2, on Feb. 1. With the win, Daemen received votes for the first time in the AVCA National Men's Volleyball poll, then earned the program's first ever AVCA Top-20 ranking coming in at T-20th in the nation on Feb. 19. The Wildcats spent two weeks ranked No. 20 in the nation.

14 players return from the 2024 Wildcats that set a program record for wins with a 20-6 overall record and tallied a 9-3 record in NEC play a season ago. Daemen's all-time kill leader Zach Schneider (Lockport, N.Y.), a two-time NEC First Team honoree, is set for his final season as a Wildcat. He posted 320 kills (3.86/set) in 2024 and became the first player in program history to total 1,000 career kills. 2024 NEC Rookie of the Year Ondrej Arabasz (Jicin, Czech Republic) returns for his sophomore campaign after tallying a program-high 79 total blocks (0.91 blocks/set) and 147 kills. Redshirt senior Billy Wieberg (Grand Island, N.Y.) had a breakout season last year with 147 kills and 116 digs along with middle blocker Maverick O'Neill (East Amherst, N.Y.) who ranked second on the team with 62 blocks in his senior season. 

Przybyl added three freshmen to the 2025 squad, with 6-foot-6 outside hitter Aidan White (Fairport, N.Y.), 6-foot-6 right side Brody Montgomery (Arvada, Colo.) and 6-foot-2 outside hitter Jonas Drum (Hamburg, N.Y.) looking to make an impact on the team.

The Wildcats will play 25 matches this season. The reigning Northeast Conference champions will host nine matches at Lumsden Gymnasium and play 14 matches on the road along with two neutral site games. Daemen kicks off the year with a West Coast road trip with three matches where they will face two nationally-ranked teams in California this weekend. The Wildcats open the season at #7 University of Southern California on Thursday evening followed up with a match against #18 UC San Diego on Friday and will face Concordia on Saturday to wrap up the weekend. 
 

---

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.