Kyle Zelasko dives for a ball against USC

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Men's Volleyball Opens NEC Play At LIU, Takes On Harvard This Weekend

3/27/2025 2:20:00 PM

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

BACK AT IT
Another week, another three matches for the Daemen University men's volleyball team. The Wildcats hit the road for the fourth straight weekend where they will open up Northeast Conference play against the LIU Sharks with a pair of matches on Friday and Saturday (March 28-29) in Brooklyn, N.Y. and then will wrap up non-conference play with a road match at Harvard on Sunday in Cambridge, Mass.

ROAD WARRIORS
The Wildcats have been on the road for a month straight and, after this weekend's matches, will have traveled over 2,968 miles over the month of March. Not only was it a tough month of travel for Daemen, it was also a tough stretch of matches. The Wildcats are on a four-game skid after dropping all three matches against nationally-ranked teams in RV George Mason, #5 UC Irvine and #19 Princeton last weekend. After this weekend's road matches, the Wildcats will play five of their final six matches at home, and their final road game of the season will be in a crosstown showdown on Saturday, April 19 at D'Youville.

LAST WEEKEND
Daemen lost all three matches against nationally-ranked teams last weekend. The Wildcats first putting up quite the fight against RV George Mason on Thursday evening in Fairfax, VA but fell 1-3 (22-25, 23-25, 27-25, 23-25) in a match that was incredibly back-and-forth in all four sets. Daemen played their highest ranked opponent of the season in #5 UC Irvine on Friday night, falling 0-3 (18-25, 18-25, 14-25) to the Anteaters. Hitting the road and heading up to Princeton, N.J. on Saturday to face the #19 Princeton Tigers, Daemen again played close but fell in another 1-3 matchup (18-25, 18-25, 25-19, 22-25). The Wildcats dropped to 9-6 on the year and are on a four-game losing stream coming into the weekend.

WEEKLY AWARDS
Graduate student outside hitter Zach Schneider (Lockport, N.Y.) was named the NEC/First Point Co-Player of the Week after totaling 50 kills (4.5 kills/set) on 92 attacks with just 16 attack errors. Schneider led the Wildcats offensively in all three matches, posting a season-high 22 kills in Thursday's 3-1 loss to RV George Mason, led the Wildcats with 9 kills against #5 UC Irvine on Friday and capped off the weekend with a match-high 19 kills on 23 attacks for a .406 hitting percentage in the 3-1 loss at #19 Princeton. He added 12 digs, 5 blocks and 3 aces on the weekend. It marked the third Player of the Week honor for Schneider this season.

NEC OPENER
The Wildcats are the last team in the league to begin conference play. Over the past two seasons in the NEC, Daemen has compiled a 20-6 overall record in conference matches and finished second in the regular season in both years. The Cats fell in the NEC Tournament semifinals in the inaugural season in 2023 but got redemption in 2024, topping FDU 3-0 in the semis and coming away with their first NEC Tournament title after beating Saint Francis on the Red Flash's home court a season ago. Over the past two seasons, the Wildcats are 1-1 in NEC opening weekends. Daemen swept crosstown rival D'Youville in their very first conference match in 2023 but fell in both matches at Saint Francis in their opening weekend in 2024.

UP NEXT
Daemen will return to Lumsden Gymnasium next weekend for the first time since Feb. 22 as they host FDU in a pair of NEC matches on April 5-6.

SCOUTING THE SHARKS
After posting a third place finish in the 2024 regular season, LIU is off to a hot start this season at 13-5 overall, one win away from totaling their 2024 win record. The Sharks opened NEC play last weekend and split the series with FDU, topping the Knights 3-1 in the conference opener but falling 2-3 in a five-set matchup on Saturday. Coming into this weekend, LIU leads the league in points (16.31/set), kills (12.37/set), hitting percentage (.272), blocks (2.45/set), assists (11.44/set) and digs (9.47/set). The Sharks are led offensively by a trio of heavy hitters in 6-foot-7 junior outside hitter Christopher Knowles (164 total kills), who leads the team and ranks third in the league with 3.73 kills/set, 6-foot-5 junior outside hitter Chase Celichowski (145 kills) who adds 2.96 kills/set and leads the team with 20 aces, along with 6-foot-5 junior outside hitter Spencer Kale (140 kills) with 4.24 kills/set. As the top blocking team in the league, LIU has five players with 30+ blocks on the season and are led by 6-foot-9 junior middle blocker Isaac Benka (58 total blocks) who leads the NEC with 1.09 blocks/set.

SERIES HISTORY
The Wildcats are 4-2 all-time against the Sharks.

SCOUTING THE CRIMSON
The Wildcats will face Harvard for the third consecutive season. Harvard comes into Sunday's match with a 6-9 overall record but have lost their past three matches. Averaging 10.7 kills/set this season, the Crimson are led offensively by 6-foot-4 senior outside hitter Logan Shepherd (124 total kills) who averages 2.64 kills/set. 6-foot-7 senior outside hitter Owen Fanning ranks second on the team with 100 total kills and averages 2.22 kills/set this season. Fanning also ranks second on the team with 34 total blocks (0.76 blocks/set) behind only 7-foot junior middle blocker Brian Thomas who has 38 total blocks (0.93 blocks/set) this season.

SERIES HISTORY
Daemen is 1-2 all-time against the Crimson with their one win coming on the road at Crimson's home gym.

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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