The long awaited rematch for Daemen is finally set.
Daeman as part of unveiling its 2027 schedule announced it will travel for a non-conference road match against Penn State on March 20.
This will be the first meeting between the two programs since the Nittany Lions defeated the Wildcats in the 2025 NCAA Tournament play-in match.
Daemen a year removed from winning the NEC championship and making its NCAA Tournament debut finished last season tied for fourth place in the NEC. Opposite Patrick Mullen also was in the nation’s top 20 with a 3.67 kills per game average.
Penn State capped off last season winning its fourth EIVA championship and nearly upsetting UC Irvine in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament before losing five games. Among the starters returning for the Nittany Lions include outside attacker Sean Harvey who was named the EIVA Player of the Year and was in the nation’s top 25 averaging 3.59 kills per game.
Both Penn State and Daemen also enter the upcoming season with new head coaches.
Long-time assistant coach Colin McMilan was promoted to Penn State’s head coach following the retirement of Hall of Fame coach Mark Pavlik. Daemen in the offseason hired former Ohio State assistant coach and Marist women’s volleyball head coach Sean Byron to lead the Wildcats.
Penn State leads the all-time series against Daemen at 2-0.
The Penn State match will be the finale of Daemen’s four non-conference road matches against teams that ended last season nationally ranked.
Daemen will open the season on a Midwest road trip with matches against Lewis and Loyola. In addition, the team will travel to play NJIT in February.
2027 Daemen schedule
Jan. 8 at Lewis
Jan. 9 at Loyola
Jan. 15 at George Mason
Jan. 20 at Roberts Wesleyan
Jan. 29 vs. Purdue Fort Wayne
Feb. 3 vs. Roberts Wesleyan
Feb. 5 at NJIT
Feb. 6 at Princeton
Feb. 13 vs. American International
Feb. 19 at St. Thomas Aquinas
Feb. 20 at Mercy
Feb. 27 vs. Monroe
March 5 at Kentucky State
March 6 at Central State
March 8 vs. D’Youville
March 9 vs. D’Youville
March 13 vs. Saint Francis
March 20 at Penn State
March 26 at Long Island
March 27 at Long Island
April 2 vs. Fairleigh Dickinson
April 3 vs. Fairleigh Dickinson
April 9 vs. Merrimack
April 10 vs. Merrimack
April 16 at UMES
April 17 at UMES
April 23 at Manhattan
April 24 at Manhattan