Senior Scott Stoner tallied a match-high 22 kills as Stevens competed in the semifinals of the Molten Championship. |
HUNTINGDON, Pa. (April 13, 2007) – The fourth-seeded Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team (33-8) dropped to top-seeded Carthage College (25-7) in five games (30-27, 29-31, 32-30,18-30, 15-13) in the semifinals of the 2007 Molten Division III Men's Invitational Volleyball Championship on Friday evening at Memorial Gymnasium in the Kennedy Sports and Recreation Center on the campus of Juniata College. With the win, the Red Men advance to the final match on Saturday at 8 p.m. They will face the winner of the
Juniata-Springfield
College match, which will take place at 8 p.m. tonight. Meanwhile, the Ducks will compete in the third-place match on Saturday at 5 p.m.
Senior middle blocker Rob Koehler (Waukesha, Wis.) led
Carthage , who has been ranked No. 1 in the nation for the past two weeks, with 17 kills and six blocks. Senior middle blocker T.J. Bellei (
Lake Forest, Ill. ) was second on the team with 13 kills and eight blocks. Sophomore outside hitter Juri Veldre (West Allis, Wis.) chipped in with 11 kills and seven blocks, while senior outside hitter Shane Olson (
West Chicago, Ill. ) added 10 kills and two blocks. Olson led the team in digs with 10. Senior setter Matt Ulmer (
Buffalo Grove, Ill. ) led the team in assists with 49.
Meanwhile, senior middle/outside hitter Scott Stoner led 5th-ranked Stevens with a match-high 22 kills, to go along with one ace and six blocks. He also led the Ducks with 10 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Tomas Bochicchio was second on the team with 17 kills, two aces and three blocks. Sophomore middle hitter Andrew Cranford and sophomore outside hitter/setter Joe Trinsey each chipped in with 13 kills.
Cranford led the team in blocks with nine, while Trinsey added five. Senior middle hitter Will Foley tallied 10 kills and five blocks. Senior setter/outside hitter Michael Schulte totaled a match-high 67 assists in five games.
Stevens and
Carthage tied the series 2-2 as the Ducks pulled out an impressive 30-18 victory in the fourth game. With the score tied 12-12, Stevens pulled away 19-12 with seven straight points.
Carthage got as close as seven points, 23-16, but the Ducks scored the next four points to take a commanding ten-point lead, 27-17.
Down six points in game five, Stevens used a 4-0 run to close to within two, 11-9.
Carthage pulled away 13-9, but the Ducks rallied back and scored the next three points to cut the Red Men lead to 14-12. Stevens got as close as one on a kill by Stoner, but Koehler sealed the win with a kill.
Stevens out-hit Carthage .248 (76-37-157) to .164 (61-37-146). Stevens also posted 18.5 blocks as a team in the match, but were hurt by its 20 serve errors.
