Men's Volleyball Travels Downstate To Play At STAC, Dominican

2/14/2025 10:27:00 AM

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

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
The Daemen University men's volleyball team travels downstate to play a pair of non-conference matches against second-year programs this weekend. The Wildcats come in on a four game win streak and are 4-2 on the year, while STAC is 3-6 overall and Dominican is 1-8.

LAST WEEKEND
The Wildcats went 2-0 in matches against Roberts Wesleyan and Rockhurst this past week. Daemen topped the Redhawks 3-1 on Wednesday, Feb. 5 after outhitting Roberts 41 to 28 and held the Redhawks to hit at a .010 clip while the Wildcats hit .194 on the night. Eight different Wildcats recorded kills in the win with graduate student outside hitter Zach Schneider (Lockport, N.Y.) again leading the Cats offensively with 12 kills. Sophomore middle blocker Ondrej Arabasz (Jicin, Czech Republic) posted a match-high seven block assists while sophomore setter Jariel Giraud (Orlando, Fla.) finished with 32 assists, six digs, five block assists, two solo blocks, one kill and one ace. Junior libero Kyle Zelasko (West Seneca, N.Y.) tied a season-high 11 digs in the win. The Cats topped Rockhurst 3-1 on Saturday, hitting at a season-high .375 against the Hawks and narrowly outhitting Rockhurst 48 to 46 while totaling just 12 attack errors on the night. Schneider led the Wildcats with 17 kills for a .517 hitting percentage to total 11.5 points on the day. Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Johnaustin Bly (Lancaster, N.Y.) and redshirt senior Billy Wieberg (Grand Island, N.Y.) each chipped in nine kills for the Cats.

WEEKLY AWARD SWEEP
For the second time this season, the Wildcats swept the Northeast Conference weekly awards. Schneider was named the First Point/NEC Player of the Week for the second time this season after averaging 3.4 kills per set and hit at a .544 clip this weekend. The graduate student outside totaled 28 kills, 14 digs, seven aces and six total blocks in the pair of games. Arabasz picked up his first First Point/NEC Defensive Player of the Week honor this season after leading the Wildcats at the net on the week with 13 total blocks while adding 13 kills, eight digs and two aces. Redshirt freshman Patrick Mullen (Farmingdale, N.J.) was named the First Point/NEC Rookie of the Week for the second time this season after totaling seven kills on 17 attacks and added four digs and one ace against Roberts Wesleyan on Wednesday night.

RECEIVING VOTES
The Wildcats have been receiving votes in the AVCA National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Poll for the past two weeks. Last season, the Wildcats were ranked in the AVCA Top-20 for the first time in program history after beating #12 UCSB.

PRESEASON POLL
Daemen was selected second in the 2025 Northeast Conference Preseason Coaches Poll. 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 2024 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.

UP NEXT
The Wildcats will return to Lumsden Gymnasium next weekend to host Central State (Friday, Feb. 21) and American International (Saturday, Feb. 22).

SCOUTING THE SPARTANS
St. Thomas Aquinas won the 2024 ECC Men's Volleyball Championship in their inaugural season and come into this weekend with a 3-6 record after facing tough competition to start the season against a host of nationally ranked teams in #5 BYU, #19 Harvard, #20 George Mason and #16 CSUN. The Spartans are averaging 9.9 kills/set and are led offensively by Gabriel Vieira with 3.5 kills/set and who also leads STAC with a .221 hitting percentage. David Weiss leads the Spartans at the net with 1.03 blocks/set.

SERIES HISTORY
Daemen is 1-0 all-time against the Spartans

SCOUTING THE CHARGERS
Playing in their second year, Dominican is looking to build off a successful first season in which they went 12-13 and 3-3 in East Coast Conference play in their inaugural season. The Chargers advanced to the first ever ECC Men's Volleyball Championship but fell in the final game in a 3-2 decision to St. Thomas Aquinas. After opening the 2025 season with a win, Dominican has been on a slide, losing the past eight matches and comes into the weekend with a 1-8 record. The Chargers average 8.97 kills per set this season. Dominican is led offensively by redshirt freshman outside hitter Blake Krapf (3.2 kills/set) sophomore outside hitter Ayden Shaw (2.17 kills/set) and sophomore middle blocker Gavin Tate (2.0 kills/set).

SERIES HISTORY
This marks the second meeting between the Wildcats and the Chargers. Daemen topped Dominican 3-0 at home on Jan. 24

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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