Men's Volleyball Hosts LIU and Lees-McRae

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The Purdue Fort Wayne men's volleyball program plays host to LIU (Jan. 23) and Lees-McRae (Jan. 25). LIU and Lees-McRae will also play a neutral site match on the Arnie Ball Court on January 22.

Game Day Information
Who: Long Island Sharks and Lees-McRae Bobcats
When: Thursday, January 23 - 7 PM | Saturday, January 25 - 7 PM
Where: Fort Wayne, Ind. | Arnie Ball Court
Live Stats: Link
Watch: ESPN+ (Thursday) | Y ouTube (Saturday)
Game Notes: Purdue Fort Wayne | MIVA

Know Your Foes

LIU remains a perfect 2-0 on the season, only dropping one set to Roberts Wesleyan. The Sharks sit at fourth in the nation in aces per set, with 2.43. Long Island is holding opponents to just a .113 hitting percentage, which is third-best in the nation. Chase Celichowski is LIU's offensive leader, hitting a team-high 22 kills and five aces on the season.
Lees-McRae lost its first two matches on the season, one being a 3-0 loss to MIVA opponent Quincy. Bobcat setter, Thiago Da Silva, has spread the ball around to several scoring options through the early portion of this season, assisting on 45 of the 54 kills. De Silva also leads the team with four blocks on the season.

Series Histories

This is the first meeting between Long Island and Purdue Fort Wayne.
Purdue Fort Wayne has won all three meetings against Lees-McRae, sweeping all three. The two teams have not met since 2019.

Mastodon Debuts
Caleb Lipscomb and JP Candrian made their Mastodon debuts against Central State in the season opener. Candrian had 10 kills on .333 hitting, three digs, two aces and two blocks in his collegiate debut and Lipscomb had six kills on eight attempts, and added three digs, three blocks and two aces. Hunter Hopkins made his debut against No. 15 CSUN, then earned the starting setter role against No. 17 UC San Diego.

Fresh Faces
Head coach Donny Gleason, along with assistant coach Jake Gleason and graduate assistant coach Jon Diedrich, all enter their first year in their coaching positions for the Mastodons. Along with the coaching staff, Purdue Fort Wayne introduces five new players to the roster. Transfers Caleb Lipscomb (Thomas More) and Haven Wankerl (D'Youville) join a freshman class including: JP Candrian, Nick Gutka and Hunter Hopkins.

Last Time Out
The Mastodons traveled to the West Coast to play in an exhibition at The Masters (Jan. 16) before traveling to CSUN for the Under Armour Challenge. Purdue Fort Wayne lost both matches, the first to No. 15 CSUN (Jan. 17), then to No. 17 UC San Diego the following night (Jan. 18). Axel Melendez Watts led the 'Dons in kills both nights with 11 at CSUN and eight against UC San Diego.

Coming Up
Purdue Fort Wayne will travel to Cambridge, Massachusetts to take on (RV) Saint Francis (Pa.) and No. 20 Harvard.

~ Feel the Rumble ~

Next Event

Players Mentioned

JP Candrian

Nick Gutka

Hunter Hopkins

Caleb Lipscomb

Axel Melendez Watts

Haven Wankerl

Purdue University Fort Wayne Athletics