Geoff Schneider

Men's Volleyball Set For Hoosier State Road Trip

2/6/2026 12:12:00 PM

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
The Daemen University men's volleyball team hits the road again this weekend for a pair of non-conference matches in Fort Wayne, Indiana, first taking on Northern Kentucky Norse (1-3, 0-0 MIVA) on Saturday at 6 PM in a neutral site match before facing former Wildcat head coach Don Gleason and his Purdue Fort Wayne (4-2, 0-0 MIVA) Mastodons on Sunday at 1 PM. The Cats are coming off a home and home sweep over Roberts Wesleyan to improve to 2-5 on the year. Tuesday's 3-2 win over the Redhawks saw redshirt sophomore Patrick Mullen (Farmingdale, N.J.) post a career-high 24 kills on a .458 hitting percentage while redshirt senior Billy Wieberg (Grand Island, N.Y.) added 17 kills and junior setter Jariel Giraud (Orlando, Fla.) ran the Wildcat offense with a career-high 47 assists.

BACK-TO-BACK
Daemen enters the season as the two-time defending Northeast Conference champions. The Wildcats posted a 15-13 overall record in 2025, including a 4-4 mark in NEC play. Entering the NEC Championship tournament as the No. 3 seed, Daemen knocked off second-seeded LIU, and proceeded to oust top-seeded Saint Francis (Pa.) on their home floor for the second time in as many years. Their reward this time around was being the recipient of the NEC's first-ever automatic bid to the National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship. The Wildcats went on to host perennial powerhouse Penn State in the opening round, falling in three sets to end their season.

ALL-CONFERENCE CATS
Daemen placed a program-best six players on the All-NEC teams last season, four of whom return to the roster in 2026. Seniors Maverick O'Neill, Billy Wieberg and Kyle Zelasko, along with junior Jariel Giraud - all Second Team All-NEC selections last season - headline the Wildcats' 14 returners, along with junior Patrick Mullen. O'Neill is the team's most experienced player in the middle, having appeared in 54 matches over the last three seasons. He led the team with 80 blocks last season. Wieberg was the MVP of the NEC tournament, and he returns after averaging a career-best 2.84 kills per set last season. Zelasko has been the team's primary libero for the last two seasons, and he returns after leading the team with 194 digs in 2025. Giraud was limited by injury to 18 matches last season, his first as a starter, but still led the team in assists (602). Mullen will look to take his game to another level after posting 209 kills and 23 service aces last season.

BIG SHOES TO FILL
Perhaps the biggest question going into the season is how the Wildcats will fill the massive void left by the graduation of Zach Schneider. A three-time All-NEC First Team and two-time AVCA All-America honorable mention selection, Schneider appeared in 117 matches over parts of six seasons with the Wildcats. He left as the program's all-time leader in matches played, kills (1,483), service aces (156) and digs (625).

WHAT'S NEW
The Wildcats' 19-man roster features five newcomers, all of whom are first-year collegiate players. The greenhorns include 6-foot-1 defensive specialist Lucas Pynn, 6-foot-3 setter Rocco Lucci, 6-foot-7 middle hitter/right side Harrison Vargo, 6-foot-7 middle hitter/right side Jeremiah Laird and 6-foot-5 outside hitter/right side Charlie Allesi.

WHERE WE HEADED?
All over the place is the simple answer. The Wildcats' 2026 schedule includes matches in eight different states - California, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and, of course, New York. After returning from the season-opening trip to SoCal, Daemen will participate in four-team events hosted by Charleston (W.Va.) (Jan. 16-17) and Saint Francis (Jan. 24-25), before making their home debut Jan. 27 against Roberts Wesleyan. A trip to Indiana in early February to face former Wildcat head coach Don Gleason and his Purdue Fort Wayne team highlights the early portion of the schedule. Northeast Conference play gets underway Feb. 27 with new member Manhattan visiting Lumsden Gymnasium. Daemen's rivalry with D'Youville takes center take in early March with the teams playing twice over a three day span (Mar. 3 at Daemen, Mar. 5 at DYU). The Wildcats visit Saint Francis for a rematch of last season's NEC Championship final on Mar. 20-21. The 2026 regular season concludes with LIU visiting Lumsden Gymnasium on Apr. 10-11. The NEC Championship tournament will be hosted by the No. 1 seed, with semifinals slated for Apr. 24 and finals on Apr. 25.

CO-FAVORITES
Daemen has been picked as the co-favorite in the 2026 Northeast Conference Men's Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Wildcats picked up three first-place votes, and finished tied with Saint Francis University (Pa.) atop the poll. Daemen enters the 2026 campaign as the two-time defending NEC champions. LIU and FDU each received one first-place vote, and finished third and fourth, respectively, in the poll. New NEC members Manhattan and Maryland Eastern Shore occupied poll positions five and six, respectively, while D'Youville was picked seventh to round it out.

GETTING DEFENSIVE
For the first time this season, Mullen was named the Northeast Conference Men's Volleyball Defensive Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 26 - Feb. 1. Mullen anchored the Daemen defense in a 3-1 win over Roberts Wesleyan on Tuesday, Jan. 27 - the Wildcats' only game of the week. The 6-foot-4 right side hitter recorded a career-high 13 digs in the win. As a team, Daemen tallied a season-high 41 digs and held RWU to a .157 hitting percentage. The redshirt sophomore added a career-high 17 kills in the match, resulting in his first career double-double. He is the second Daemen player to earn DPOTW, joining Peter Leicht (Brockport, N.Y.) who earned the award on Jan. 20.

SCOUTING THE NORSE
Playing in their first year of competition, Western Kentucky comes into Saturday's match with a 1-4 record after facing tough opponents in Saint Francis, #20 Lincoln Memorial and #12 Ohio State to open the season. The Norse earned the program's first victory in a 3-0 sweep over Thomas More on Jan. 23. With 13 freshmen on the roster and just three players that have played collegiate volleyball prior to this season, WKU averages 11.6 kills per set and is led offensively this season by a trio of 6-foot-6 players in redshirt sophomore opposite Will McElveen with 44 kills along with graduate student outside Matt Cosgrove, a transfer from Penn State, with 36 kills and junior outside Griffin Wheatley with 32 kills on the year. Sophomore middle blocker Adam Blair leads the Norse defensively with 10 blocks while 6-foot-7 freshman middle Ryan Peterson has chipped in nine on the year. This is the first matchup between Daemen and Western Kentucky.

SCOUTING THE MASTODONS
A longstanding national collegiate men's volleyball program, Purdue Fort Wayne is off to a 4-2 start in Don Gleason's second season as head coach of the Mastodons. Receiving votes in the latest AVCA national poll, PFW bounced back from a losses to Missouri S&T in five sets in the season opener and a 1-3 loss to #12 CSUN on Jan. 17, responding with a 3-1 victory over #20 Charleston and a 3-2 win over Maryville and comes into this weekend's matches riding a two-game win streak. 6-foot 5 sophomore outside hitter Owen Banner leads the 'Dons with 90 kills on the season (3.46 kills/set). 6-foot-6 junior opposite Logan Muir (56 kills) and 6-foot-2 freshman outside Carlo Huisden (53 kills) add balance on both sides. A strong defensive team that averages 2.52 blocks per set, PFW has eight players with double-digit blocks this season and are led at the net by 6-foot-7 junior middle blocker Casey Lyons with 24 blocks.

SERIES HISTORY
The Wildcats are 0-1 all-time against PFW, with the Mastodons narrowly winning 3-2 in the sole matchup in March 2022.

UP NEXT
Daemen heads east next weekend for a pair of non-league games, first taking on former NEC foe Sacred Heart in Fairfield, CT on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 4 PM then trekking to Massachusetts to play at AIC on Sunday, Feb. 15 at noon.

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