CHARLESTON, W.V. – The Daemen University men's volleyball team fell to Charleston (W.V.) away from home on Saturday. The Golden Eagles defeated the Wildcats 3-1 (19-25, 25-23, 20-25, 18-25) in both squads' final contest at the UC Invitational, which Charleston hosted.
 
IMPACT PLAYERS

• Redshirt-sophomore Patrick Mullen (Farmingdale, N.J) led Daemen in kills with a season-high 14. He added four total blocks and four digs. Mullen has paced the Wildcats in kills in all four matches this season. 
• Redshirt-senior Billy Wieberg (Grand Island, N.Y.) also posted a season-high in kills with 10. This marked the first contest of the year in which the Wildcats have had multiple players reach double-digit kills.
• Junior Jariel Giraud (Orlando, Fla.) led the team in assists with 29 and in aces with four while equaling the team-high with five digs.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• The opening set was a battle early. Neither team managed to secure more than two consecutive points through the first 28 total tallies of the frame. The Wildcats and Golden Eagles found themselves in a 14-14 tie, their 13th time being even to that point. Charleston then went on a 7-2 spurt to claim a 20-16 advantage and finished off a 25-19 opening set victory.
• The second set began similarly to the third. Charleston took an early 6-5 lead, but Daemen responded with four consecutive points to go ahead 9-6, led by three service aces courtesy of Giraud. Daemen held the advantage for the rest of the set. It extended the lead to five at 21-16, but the Golden Eagles cut their deficit to one (23-22) with a 6-2 run. The Wildcats then claimed two of the set's final three points to secure a 25-23 win and even the match.
• Daemen took an early 4-2 advantage at the start of the third set and later found itself in a 7-7 tie. The Golden Eagles notched three consecutive points, taking a lead which eventually grew to 18-13. Five consecutive Daemen tallies evened the score at 18 apiece. However, Charleston then went on a 5-0 run of its own before closing out a 25-20 win and going ahead 2-1 in the match.
• Both teams traded 4-1 stretches at the start of the fourth set, resulting in a 5-5 tie. Neither side went ahead by more than two points until the late stages of the set when Charleston claimed a 20-17 advantage, which grew as large as six points at 23-17 before Daemen got back on the board. Charleston wrapped up the set 25-18 and the match 3-1.

UP NEXT
The Wildcats head to Loretto, Penn. to participate in next weekend's Red Flash Invitational hosted by Saint Francis University. Daemen takes on NJIT on Jan. 24 at 4 p.m. before a 10 a.m. matchup against Queens (N.C.) on Jan. 25.