LORETTO, Pa. – The Daemen University men's volleyball team fell 3-2 (21-25, 25-21, 22-25, 25-23, 7-15) in a five-set thriller to Purdue University Fort Wayne this afternoon. The Wildcats are now 3-6 on the season, while the Mastodons improve to 6-2.
IMPACT PLAYERS
- Billy Wieberg (Grand Island, N.Y.) finished tied first in kills with 15, while pacing the team in aces with four. The redshirt senior tallied a .462 hitting percentage for the match.
- Redshirt sophomore Patrick Mullen (Farmingdale, N.J.) also finished with 15 kills on 35 attacks. He added five digs and two assists in the process.
- Junior Jariel Giraud (Orlando, Fla.) registered a double-double in assists with 42 and 13 digs.
- Redshirt Junior Johnaustin Bly (Lancaster, N.Y.) tallied nine digs, while teammate and redshirt sophomore Peter Leicht (Brockport, N.Y.) added eight kills with a .545 hitting percentage.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Trailing 18-9 in the opening set, the Wildcats clawed their way back to trail 22-20. The Mastodons then used a 3-1 run to take the set 25-21 and grab an early 1-0 lead in the match.
- Daemen in set two took an early 6-4 lead, but the Mastodons used a 9-4 run to go up 13-10. The Wildcats responded with a 10-4 run of their own to go up 20-17, which allowed them to go on and secure a 25-21 win and tie the match at one.
- In set three, the Mastodons jumped out to a 6-1 lead, but Daemen was able to cut into the lead to trail 6-4. Both teams exchanged points only to find themselves tied at 19. Purdue Fort Wayne was able to string together a 6-3 run to win the set 25-22 and go back in front 2-1 in the match.
- For most of the fourth set, both teams traded points to be deadlocked at 11. Daemen was able to grab an 18-16 lead, but Purdue Fort Wayne tallied the next three points to take a slight 19-18 advantage. Late in the set, both teams ended up tied at 23, but back-to-back kills by the Wildcats gave them a 25-23 win and tied the match.
- Entering the final set of the match, Purdue Fort Wayne held a 5-4 lead before using an 8-0 run to push its lead to 13-5. The Wildcats attempted to climb back into it, but the lead was too much to overcome as they fell 15-7 and lost the match 3-2.
UP NEXT
Daemen is back on the road next Saturday when it travels to Fairfield, Conn. when it takes on Sacred Heart University