AMHERST, N.Y. – The Daemen University men's volleyball team dropped their NEC opener, 1-3 (27-25, 20-25, 21-25, 19-25) to Manhattan University on Friday night. The Wildcats snap a three-game win streak and move to 6-8 on the year and 0-1 in NEC play while Manhattan, playing in their inaugural season, wins their very first conference match and improves to 3-9 overall. The Jaspers narrowly out-hit Daemen 49 to 45, but the it was errors that finished the Wildcats off. Daemen had 30 attack errors, 15 service errors, one block error and five reception errors in the loss.

Daemen and Manhattan return to Lumsden Gymnasium on Saturday at 2 PM. 

IMPACT PLAYERS

• Sophomore Aidan White (Fairport, N.Y.) led the Wildcats offensively with 16 kills, adding two solo blocks, three block assists and a dig for a team-high 19.5 points.
• Redshirt senior Billy Wieberg (Grand Island, N.Y.) finished with his second straight double-double, totaling 11 kills and 13 digs along with two aces, two assists and a block assist. 
• Junior setter Jariel Giraud (Orlando, Fla.) paced the way 38 assists, seven digs and three block assists. 
• Senior libero Kyle Zelasko (West Seneca, N.Y.) totaled 11 digs adn three assists. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• The Wildcats opened the first set on a 7-2 run after six kills, two each from O'Neill and Wieberg. Daemen remained in the lead throughout the first, leading by as much as seven, 16-9, before Manhattan scored 11 of the next 15 points off five kills and six Wildcat errors to tie it up at 20. In a race to win by two, both teams put together runs at the end of the set, but it was Daemen finished winning three of the final four points to win the first set 27-25. Wieberg led the Cats with seven kills while White chipped in five.  
• The Jaspers took a 10-7 lead early in the second and remained in the lead for the rest of the set, taking the second 25-20 to tie the match up at one a piece. The Wildcats recorded just eight second-set kills and six errors on 24 attacks for a .083 hitting percentage.
• After the Wildcats and Jaspers traded points to tie it up at 13, Manhattan went on a 9-4 run to lead 22-17 and remained ahead for the rest of the set, winning 25-21 to take a 2-1 set lead.
• Manhattan had all the momentum in the fourth set, leading by as much as 20-9 until the Wildcats went on a 10-4 run to make it a five-point game, 24-19. A Jasper kill ended the set, 25-19, with Manhattan winning the match 3-1.