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Fear the glasses – they are now coming to the NCAA Tournament.
Outside attacker Billy Wieberg donning his signature eye glasses had a match-high 15 kills on a .400 attack percentage as Daemen defeated Saint Francis 25-22, 21-25, 25-21, 25-22 on Saturday in the NEC Tournament finals.
Wieberg committed one attack error in the final three games of the finals en route to his fourth NEC match this season with at least a .400 attack percentage. The pin-hitter also had a kill to cap off a 7-2 run at the start of the fourth game that helped the Wildcats secure the NEC’s inaugural automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
Wieberg was one of three Wildcats with double-digit kills in the road victory against the NEC regular season champions.
Outside attacker Zach Schnedier had 12 kills, including a team-high five kills in the opening game. Pin-hitter Patrick Mullen contributed 14 kills with seven of those kills coming in the second game.
Daemen out-hit Saint Francis .220 to .145 and limited the Red Flash to less than a .100 attack percentage in two of the four games.
Schnedier led all players defensively with 13 digs. Libero Kyle Zelasko added 12 digs, while Wieberg had 10 digs to help the Wildcats win for the sixth time in their last eight matches.
Saint Francis was without the 2025 NEC Player of the Year outside attacker Andrew Deardorff who suffered an injury in the semifinals.
Outside attacker Brady Stump in the loss had a team-high 14 kills. Stump, though, was the only Red Flash to finish with double-digit kills.
This is the second consecutive year that Daemen has defeated Saint Francis on the road in the conference tournament finals.
Daemen is the third NCAA Division II team to qualify for the NCAA Tournament this season. The Wildcats are an affiliate member of the NEC for men’s volleyball and one of two Division II teams in the conference.