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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
Johnaustin Bly dives for a ball against USC
Cary Qian
2
Daemen Daemen 9-8,0-1 NEC
3
Winner LIU LIU 14-5,2-1 NEC
Daemen Daemen
9-8,0-1 NEC
2
Final
3
LIU LIU
14-5,2-1 NEC
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 5 F
Daemen Daemen 31 25 16 25 12 (2)
LIU LIU 33 22 25 17 15 (3)

Game Recap: Men's Volleyball | | CONTACT: Mary Margaret Johnson, Director of Athletics Communications | mmjohnso@daemen.edu

Men's Volleyball Falls in NEC Opener to LIU in Five Set Thriller

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – It was an absolute battle to the very end between Daemen University and Long Island University in the Wildcats' Northeast Conference opener on Friday night, but it was the Sharks that came away with the 3-2 (31-33, 25-22, 16-25, 25-17, 12-15) victory over Daemen. The Wildcats drop their fifth straight match this season and fall to 9-8 on the year and 0-1 in NEC play.

Daemen posted a season-high 54 kills on the night and led LIU with a .226 hitting percentage while holding the Sharks to hit .194 in the five-set thriller. Led by a match-high 21 kills from graduate student Zach Schneider (Lockport, N.Y.), three Wildcats recorded double-digit kills in the loss. The Wildcats out blocked the league's top blocking team 13 to six as six different Daemen players recorded blocks in the match.

IMPACT PLAYERS
  • Schneider led the Wildcats offensively for the fourth straight match, posting a match-high 21 kills with nine errors off 44 attacks on the night while adding seven digs, three block assists and one assist to post a match-high 22.5 points.
  • Playing as an outside hitter for the second time this season, junior Kyle Zelasko (West Seneca, N.Y.) finished with a career-high 13 kills with just three errors on 33 attacks for a .303 clip. He added eight digs, two assists, one solo block, one block assist and one ace for 15.5 points.
  • Sophomore Ondrej Arabasz (Jicin, Czech Republic) totaled 10 kills on 22 attacks for a .364 hitting percentage and added two block assists, one dig and one assist.
  • Redshirt sophomore Johnaustin Bly (Lancaster, N.Y.) and redshirt junior Billy Wieberg (Grand Island, N.Y.) both tallied double-digit digs on the night. Bly posted a career-high 12 digs and added an assist. Wieberg finished with 10 digs, seven kills, five block assists, three aces and two assists.
  • Senior Maverick O'Neill (East Amherst, N.Y.) posted a career-high six total blocks, finishing with a career-high eight block assists along with two solo blocks, two kills and a dig.
  • Sophomore setter Jariel Giraud (Orlando, Fla.) totaled 45 assists, five digs, two block assists, one ace and one kill.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
  • The entire first set was just a big game of back and forth between Daemen and LIU. After the Sharks went on a 3-0 run to grab an 11-9 lead, neither team scored more than two consecutive points for the rest of the set. These two evenly matched teams went toe to toe and took it to extra points. After Daemen tied it up at 31, LIU scored the next two to take the first, 33-31.
  • LIU opened up the second set on an 8-3 run and continued to lead by as much as five later in the set, 14-9. From there, Daemen scored nine of the next 11 points off four kills from Schneider and one from Zelasko to lead the Sharks, 18-16 and never trailed for the rest of the set. The Wildcats tied the game up at one with a 25-22 second-set victory.
  • The Wildcats and Sharks were all tied up at six until LIU scored12 of the next 13 points off just one kill – the Wildcats committed 11 errors in that run including giving up six service aces. LIU cruised to a 25-16 win in the third set.
  • As it started in the previous three sets, Daemen and LIU were knotted up early tied up at nine until the Cats scored five unanswered points to lead 14-9. Trading points throughout the rest of the set, Daemen maintained a solid lead and handled the Sharks to take the fourth set 25-17.
  • Building off the momentum from the fourth set victory, the Wildcats kicked off the fifth set on an 8-3 run after forcing the Sharks to make four errors early. From there, LIU scored 10 of the next 11 points off six Wildcat errors to take a 13-9 advantage. A pair of Wildcat kills from Schneider and Zelasko brought the game within two, 13-11, but the Sharks finished the set off winning two of the final three points to win the fifth, 15-12 and take the match 3-2.
UP NEXT
The Wildcats will wrap up their two-game stretch at LIU on Saturday against the Sharks in a 1 PM match up.
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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