'Talk of the town' in men's volleyball: Daemen hosts Penn State in NCAA tourney opener

AMHERST, N.Y. (WIVB) -- The first match of Zach Schneider's college volleyball career was an eye-opening experience. "A little intimidating," he recalled, to be across the net from a UCLA team ranked No. 2 in the country and stocked with Olympic hopefuls.

Billy Wieberg was an incoming recruit, awed by the enormity of the opponent bouncing balls to the roof of Daemen University's Lumdsden Gymnasium. "We were all in shock," he said, watching a powerhouse play at a local school that was just starting it's men's volleyball program in that 2020 season.

No longer shocked or awed, Schneider, Wieberg and their Daemen teammates aren't satisfied with being on the same floor with the sport's blue bloods. The Wildcats want to prove they belong.

Daemen welcomes another distinguished opponent to its home gym Friday night when it hosts Penn State in an opening round game of the National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship. Repeating as champions of the Northeast Conference, the Wildcats automatically qualified for their first NCAA tournament appearance. The two-time national champion Nittany Lions are in the bracket for a 35th time.

"We're probably the talk of the town right now in the volleyball world," Daemen coach Darek Przybyl said. "Everyone is rooting for us to take down the mighty Penn State."

Tickets for the match sold out within a minute of going on sale Thursday morning.

"Since we won the NEC, I think I've been the most popular volleyball person in Western New York," said Przybyl, a Lancaster native who played for Medaille College and was an assistant when the Mavericks reached the Division III national semifinals twice.

"Everyone is either saying kudos, or do you got an extra ticket?" Przybyl said. "It's an incredible amount of support that we received from our community. Buffalo has been kind of craving a high-level D-1/D-II men's team for quite some time, every since I was a player back in my day. The fact that now I'm coaching that team that is representing this community and going against Penn State, and hosting Penn State for an NCAA game, it's fun to say out loud."

It's an opportunity unique to men's volleyball. With only 26 D-I colleges currently sponsoring the sport, and 30 in D-II, the divisions are combined for the NCAA tournament. Daemen is one of two D-II schools in the nine-team bracket. This is the first season that the NEC champion is receiving an automatic bid.

Przybyl took command of the Wildcats this season after five years assisting program founder Don Gleason, now the coach at Purdue Fort Wayne. After the NEC in 2024 but not getting selected for the national tournament, Daemen felt it had unfinished business. Their rallying cry all season long has been "Final Four."

"We've had our eyes set on a bigger target all year," said Wieberg, the NEC tournament MVP.

One of nine local players on the Daemen team, Wieberg won a state championship during his All-WNY career at Grand Island. Now on the hunt for a national title, the Wildcats " want to put Western New York volleyball on the map," he said. "You have all these great California teams that make the tournament. And we're just a small school from Buffalo. We want to make the city proud."

Schneider, a Lockport native, started out at powerhouse Long Beach State, but is now in his sixth year as the top outside hitter for Daemen, taking advantage of eligibility extensions granted during the coronavirus pandemic. He was eager to get in on the ground floor of the upstart program in his home town. But could not have envisioned the heights it would reach before his career ended.

"If you asked me six years if all this would be happening right now, I'd say that you were crazy," Schneider said. "It's been an incredible experience and having this opportunity now is really special for the program. There's no fear in our game. We're all prepared for this moment, and it's just pure excitement for the whole team."