Billy Wieberg serves at the 2024 NEC Tournament

Men's Volleyball Begins Przybyl Era With California Road Trip

1/8/2025 2:07:00 PM

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

BACK ON THE COURT
The Daemen University men's volleyball team are kicking off the 2025 season with a bang!! The Wildcats are in California to start the year with three tough matches, including a pair of nationally-ranked opponents, against #7 University of Southern California on Thursday, Jan. 9, #18 University of California San Diego on Friday, Jan. 10 and against Concordia University Irvine on Saturday, Jan. 11 with all games being played at 7 PM (PST).

NEW ERA
The Wildcats have a new head coach for the first time in program history. Assistant Darek Przybyl kicks off his tenure as the Wildcats' new bench boss with Thursday's match against #7 USC after the departure of Donald Gleason, who started the Wildcats' program in 2019, left Daemen to take the head coaching job at Purdue-Fort Wayne in the summer. As the Wildcats' top assistant over the past six years, Przybyl helped Daemen to an 81-43 record since the program's inception.

PRESEASON POLL
Daemen was selected second in the 2025 Northeast Conference Preseason Coaches Poll, released on Wednesday. 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.

NEC CHAMPIONS
In their second year playing in the NEC the Wildcats finished second in the regular season but finished the season on a high, earning the program's first NEC Tournament Championship title after beating Fairleigh Dickinson University, 3-0, in the semifinals and taking down top-seeded Saint Francis University, 3-1, in the conference championship game. The Wildcats compiled a program record 20 wins last season, finishing the 2024 campaign with a 20-6 overall record and a 9-3 record in NEC play.

LOOK BACK AT 2024
Setting a program record for wins in 2024, Daemen posted a number of other milestones in their historic 2024 campaign. The Wildcats earned 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. The Wildcats finished the 2024 season atop the NEC in multiple statistical categories, leading the conference in points (16.05/set), kills (12.34/set), hitting percentage (.332), assists (11.11/set), digs (9.17/set), opponent hitting percentage (.195), opponent blocks (1.39/set), and opponent digs (7.69/set). The Wildcats finished third in all of Division I men's volleyball with a .195 opponent hitting percentage.

WHO'S BACK
14 players return from the 2024 Wildcats. 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) -- a single-season program record for kills -- in 2024 and became the first player in program history to total 1,000 career kills. Schneider's 3.86 kills per set ranked ninth in Division I men's volleyball in the final statistical rankings of the year. 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.

WHO'S GONE
The Wildcats lost a pair of All-Conference players in Cameron Milligan and Sean Califf to graduation a season ago along with Michael Kreuger, who was a part of the Wildcat team since the program's inception. Milligan earned First Team All-NEC honors in his senior season in which he played in all 26 matches and started 24 where he finished with 252 kills and a .347 hitting percentage (3rd in the league) along with 50 blocks, 96 digs and a team-high 30 aces while Califf averaged 9.55 assists/set (3rd in the league), 41 blocks and a team-best 145 digs. Krueger, who began his career as a setter but moved to a defensive specialist position in his final two seasons as a Wildcat, appeared in 24 matches and led the team with 145 digs. He is an assistant coach under Przybyl for the 2025 season.

DAEMEN AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS
Over the past six seasons, the Wildcats are 2-7 all-time against opponents ranked in the top-25 by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA). Daemen has a 2-4 record in the past two seasons, with both wins coming against the #12 team in the nation. The Wildcats earned the program's first ever ranked win in 2023 against #12 CSUN in a five-set thriller in California, and earned another ranked victory a season ago against #12 UC Santa Barbara at the Harvard Invitational in five-set match. In six seasons, Daemen has faced off against six top-10 teams in Division I men's volleyball and is 0-6 all-time. In their 3-1 loss to #5 Ohio State in the 2024 season opener, the Wildcats earned their first set victory over a top-five team, beating the Buckeyes 25-14 to open the match.

UP NEXT
The Wildcats return to Western New York for their home opener on Jan. 24 as they welcome Dominican to Lumsden Gymnasium for a 7 PM match up.

SCOUTING THE TROJANS
USC comes into the 2025 season ranked #7 in the AVCA Preseason Poll after finishing 2024 ranked 13th. The Trojans went 13-15 overall and 3-9 in MPSF conference play and closed out the regular season losing six of their last seven matches. As the No. 6 seed in the MPSF tournament, USC beat No. 3 seed BYU in five sets in the quarterfinals but fell to eventual national champions #1 UCLA in the semifinals. USC returns 13 players from their 2024 team, including AVCA Honorable Mention All-America selection Dillon Klein. Klein, a 6-foot-6 junior outside hitter, led the Trojans offensively last year with 351 kills (3.44 kills/set) and totaled 66 blocks and 131 digs. The Trojans finished ninth in the nation in blocks per set (2.36/set) and totaled 257 over 109 sets. Offensively, USC averaged 11.9 kills/set and hit at a .291 clip in 2024. This is the first time the Wildcats and Trojans meet on the court.

SCOUTING THE TRITONS
UC San Diego comes into the season ranked #18 by the AVCA. The Tritons went 12-15 in 2024 and closed out ranked #20 in the final poll a season ago. 12 players return for UCSD, including AVCA Honorable Mention All-America honoree Anthony Cherfan, a 6-foot-6 opposite senior who led the Tritons with 279 kills (3.13/set) and 37 aces. 6-foot-4 senior outside Sebastian Lara finished second on the team with 210 kills (2.53/set) while 6-foot-9 redshirt junior middle blocker Jim Garrison led UCSD with 90 total blocks, finishing the year ranked eighth in the nation with 1.059 blocks/set. The Tritons averaged 10.8 kills per set in 2024 and hit .256 on the year. This marks the first meeting between Daemen and UCSD.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES
Concordia is 1-0 on the year after beating Canadian team Brandon 3-2 in their season opener. The Golden Eagles compiled a 6-19 record in 2024 and closed out the season losing their last 14 matches while going 0-12 in MPSF play. Concordia returned four players from last season, including 6-foot-6 sophomore outside hitter Ties Cornelissen who led the team offensively with 221 kills (3.16 kills/set) and returns as the Golden Eagles' top blocker, compiling 32 blocks in 2024. The Wildcats are 0-1 against Concordia all-time, with the Golden Eagles earning the 3-0 victory in the first meeting in March 2023 on Daemen's first West Coast road trip.

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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