BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Daemen University men's volleyball team swept crosstown rival D'Youville University in straight sets, 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-20) on Thursday night to win their third straight NEC match. The Wildcats improve to 9-8 overall and 3-1 in NEC action while dropping the Saints to 2-14 on the year and 0-4 in conference games. Hitting over .300 for the fourth time this season, the Wildcats posted a .361 hitting percentage, highlighted by a 16-kill performance in the first set. 

IMPACT PLAYERS

• Redshirt sophomore right side Patrick Mullen (Farmingdale, N.J.) shined on the court tonight, leading the Cats with 11 kills and two block assists for a team-high 13 points. 
• Redshirt senior outside hitter Billy Wieberg (Grand Island, N.Y.) commanded eight kills on 12 attacks for a .417 hitting percentage along with four aces to his impressive outing.
• Fifth year middle blocker Maverick O'Neill (East Amherst, N.Y.) totaled a season-tying high seven kills on nine attacks for a match-high .778 clip, adding one solo block, two block assists and three digs on the night. 
• Redshirt freshman Aidan White (Fairport, N.Y.) posted seven kills, one block assist and two digs.
• Junior setter Jariel Giraud (Orlando, Fla.) finished with 31 assists and one kill. Senior libero Kyle Zelasko (West Seneca, N.Y.) totaled 11 kills. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Daemen gained an early edge in the first, capitalizing on several errors by D'Youville and extended their lead, 16-11, after putting together a 5-2 run with a trio of kills from Wieberg and one each from Mullen and O'Neill. Despite the Saints cutting the Daemen lead to three, 18-15, the Wildcats closed it out on a 7-5 run to take the set 25-20 after O'Neill delivered the final blow. Daemen hit .542 and finished with 16 first-set kills from Wieberg (6), Mullen (5), O'Neill (3) and White (2).
• The Wildcats and Saints traded points to open the second, but after tying the game up at eight, Daemen outscored D'Youville 10-5 to take a 17-13 advantage and never relinquished their lead for the rest of the set. White recorded the final three points for the Cats off a trio of kills as the Wildcats shut the door on the Saints, 25-22.
• Despite trailing 1-4 to open the third, Daemen righted the set after tying it up at nine after Wieberg's impressive serving streak of three consecutive aces brought the Wildcats up 13-10. O'Neil and White further expanded the lead with timely kills, with White sealing the set with the final point from an assist by Giraud. Mullen totaled five third-set kills as the Wildcats secured a 25-20 victory over the Saints to sweep D'Youville 3-0 for the second time in three days. 

UP NEXT
Daemen will play their third match of the week on Saturday in a neutral site match at D'Youville against Judson at 4 PM in the Saints Center Gym.