BUFFALO, N.Y. – The D'Youville University Men's Volleyball team defeated the FDU Knights 3-1 on Saturday afternoon at the College Center.

D'Youville University 2 vs FDU 1 – 25-19, 26-28, 25-23, 25-19
Set One
The Saints started off strong jumping out to a quick 8-7 lead after a kill from Jacob Malak (Wales, Wisc. / Kettle Moraine). The Knights tied it up and game play continued back and forth between teams. With the game tied at 12, the Saints scored four in a row after two FDU errors and kills from Malak and Ian De Wilde (Lockport, N.Y. / Starpoint) to go up 16-12. From there, the Saints continued to hold the lead and after two more FDU errors, D'Youville took set one 25-19.

Set Two
FDU started the second set by leading 4-2, but the Saints bounced back scoring three in a row to take the lead. After the Knights retook control going up 12-9. The Saints answered with a five-point run featuring kills from Malak. Haven Wankerl (Cross Plains, Wisc. / Middleton), and Tymek Brzoza (Tychy, Poland / NLO Jastrzebski Wegiel). FDU again fought back until the game was tied at 16. From there, gameplay was even, until both teams reached 26. FDU took set two 28-26 after scoring the last two points.

Set Three
Set Three started even with the score tied at eight. The Saints managed a three-point run and then added two more to bring the score to 13-9. As both teams continued to climb, the Saints refused to give up the lead and after back-to-back kills from Brzoza, the Saints reached 24 with the Knights at 21. FDU prolonged the match scoring two more, but the Saints capitalized on a Knights' error to win set three 25-23.

Set Four
The Saints again took the lead in set four, jumping out to an 8-6 lead following kills from Ian De Wilde and Shaun Vattakuzhiyil (Sugar Land, TX / Elkins). FDU worked their way back and got within one, but the Saints turned up the heat on offense scoring four-in-a-row to go up 18-13. The Saints did not let up as they continued to climb to 25 and a final kill from Ethan Robinson (Toronto, Canada) gave the Saints the 25-19 win in set four and the 3-1 win in the match over the FDU Knights.

Saints Stats
Tymek Brzoza led the Saints offense with 12 kills while Ian De Wilde and Shaun Vattakuzhiyil followed closely with 11 each. Randy Adorno (Bayamon, Puerto Rico / Winter Park) continued his strong 2024 campaign with 48 assists, two aces, and eight digs. Adorno also recorded his season-high assist with 48 in today's match. Haven Wankerl was locked in on defense recording eight blocks across the four sets. As a team, the Saints recorded 54 kills compared to the Knights 44 and had 51 assists compared to FDU's 43.

Up Next
The D'Youville Men's Volleyball team stays home this week to face off with Daemen University on Thursday, February 29th at 6:00 PM.