AMHERST, N.Y. – The D'Youville University Men's Volleyball team suffered their first loss of the season after dropping three sets to the Daemen University Wildcats on Thursday night.

D'Youville University 0 at Daemen University 3 – 22-25, 26-28, 16-25

Set One
Matchplay started even between the Saints and Wildcats after a service error from Daemen brought the score to 3-3. From there, the Wildcats took control, but the Saints worked to stay close. Daemen recorded a kill bringing the score to 23-17, but the Saints fought back scoring four in a row after two Wildcats errors and kills from Haven Wankerl (Cross Plains, Wisc. / Middleton) and Jacob Malak (Wales, Wisc. / Kettle Moraine) to bring the score to 23-21. Shaun Vattakuzhiyil (Sugar Land, TX / Elkins) would have the last kill for the Saints before the Wildcats would take the first set 25-22.

Set Two
The Saints came back strong in the second set taking the 8-6 lead after back-to-back service aces from Vattakuzhiyil and a Wildcats error. The Wildcats worked their way back to tie the game at 17 and the game continued back and forth. A kill from Randy Adorno (Bayamon, Puerto Rico/Winter Park) put the Saints ahead 23-22, but Daemen again found their way back to a tie. As match play continued, the Wildcats would finally pull ahead to win the second set 28-26.

Set Three
Daemen took control of the third set jumping out to a 12-8 lead. The Saints got two points back after a Wildcats error and a serving ace from Haven Wankerl. The Wildcats continued with a strong offense and extended their lead to 23-15. A final kill from Wankerl would bring the Saints to 16 and Daemen would score their final two points to win the third set 25-16 and the match 3-0.

Saints Stats
Shaun Vattakuzhiyil was the leader again for the Saints offensive leader for the night racking up nine kills while Randy Adorno recorded 21 assists. The Saints recorded 33 kills on the night compared to Daemen's 39. The Saints also recorded six solo blocks compared to the Wildcats two.

Up Next
The D'Youville University Men's Volleyball team returns to the College Center for a 1:00 PM matchup on Saturday, February 10th against St. Thomas Aquinas College.