Senior setter Gina Joyce helped lead the Ducks to their first-ever win the NCAA Championship.

NEW YORK, NY (NOVEMBER 10, 2005) – The Stevens Institute of Technology women’s volleyball team held off Vassar to win its first-round match in five games on Thursday in the NCAA Division III Women’s Volleyball Championship at New York University.  The win is the volleyball team’s first-ever in the NCAA Championship and the first for a women’s volleyball Skyline Conference participant.  Stevens (31-5) will play the winner of the New York University/Baruch match on Friday at 7 p.m.

Stevens and Vassar split each of the first four games with Stevens taking the first two, 30-28, 31-29. Vassar won the third and fourth games, 30-27, and 30-22, to force the decisive fifth game.

The Ducks erased a 5-3 deficit and scored five consecutive points, taking an 8-3 advantage over the Brewers.  Freshman Melanie Volk (Thompson Station, TN) picked up the Ducks’ eighth point on a service ace.

With the score tied 10-10, Stevens scored two straight points off a kill from freshman Melisssa Rhode (New Orleans, LA) and a Vassar attack error to take a 12-10 lead. 

With a 13-11 lead, Vassar closed within one before Stevens sealed the fifth game and match victory 15-12.

Sophomore Dawn Herring (Prince Frederick, Md./Calvert) contributed a team-high 14 kills to go along with 13 digs, while Rhode totaled a match-high 20 digs to go along with 10 kills.  Five other Ducks finished in double digits. Volk helped lead the team with 13 kills, 11 digs and three aces.  Freshman Summer Hamilton (San Diego, CA) added 10 kills while fellow freshman Jess Gardner (Penfield, NY) had 11.  Senior setter Gina Joyce (Fort Myers, FL) had 49 assists, eight kills and 11 digs, while junior Rachel Ostroff (North Miami, FL) had 14 digs.