HOBOKEN, N.J. (January 23, 2010) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team knocked off its second-straight American Volleyball Coaches Association Preseason Top-10 team after downing No. 7 Nazareth College, 3-1 (22-30, 30-28, 30-26, 30-28) to open play at the 12th Annual Stevens Invitational. The Ducks then defeated Hunter College, 3-0 (30-18, 30-18, 30-20) to move to 3-0 on the young season.
Newbury College opened up tournament play with a hard-fought 3-2 (21-30, 30-22, 30-19, 28-30, 15-13) victory over Hunter College. The match between Nazareth and Newbury was suspended in the third set because of a protest. Play will resume tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. prior to the start of the second day of competition.
Stevens will take on Newbury College at 11 a.m. to open up day two, while Nazareth faces Hunter.
No. 4 Stevens 3, No. 7 Nazareth 1 (22-30, 30-28, 30-26, 30-28)
Nazareth sophomore outside hitter Billy Gimello (Happauge, N.Y.) helped stake the Golden Flyers to an early, 3-0 lead in the opening set, following up the game's first kill with a service ace. Stevens junior Jonathan Landis put the Ducks on the board with his first kill of the match, making it 3-1, but an ensuing Ducks' error once again made it a three-point affair.
Still up three at 8-5, Nazareth rattled off a 7-2 run, capped off by a Robert Kraft (Waretown, N.J.) kill and Duck error, making it 15-7, but five-straight Stevens points, including two SteFan PremDas kills, quickly trimmed the lead to four.
Building off a pair of Ducks' errors, the Golden Flyers responded with a run of their own, notching eight of the set's next 11 points to take a 23-15 advantage. Beginning with a service ace from senior co-captain John Dennan, Stevens rallied to cut the deficit to 25-21, but Nazareth closed out the first set on a 5-1 run to take a 1-0 lead.
Thanks to a pair of Nazareth errors and a Dennan kill, Stevens took an early, 3-0 lead in the second set. Up 6-4 after a Gimello tally, the Ducks stretched the margin to four on back-to-back kills.
Later down three, junior Hans Schroeder (Kenmore, N.Y.) tallied back-to-back scores to cut the Golden Flyer deficit to 11-10. Still down one at 14-13, Nazareth reeled off three unanswered points, thanks in part to a pair of Gimello kills, to pull ahead 16-14.
Trailing 22-20, Golden Flyers took advantage of two Stevens errors to take a 24-20 lead, but the Ducks battled back, mounting a 6-1 run, capped off by a Karl kill to take a slim, 26-25, lead. Three straight Nazareth errors would give Stevens a little breathing room at 29-25 en route to a close 30-28 victory.
With the pivotal third set knotted at three, Karl and junior co-captain Brandt Grobeis teamed up to block a would-be Gimello kill before Landis hammered home a score to make it 6-4. Nazareth pulled even at six on a Gimello tally and a Duck error before Karl and Schroeder traded kills to keep the closely contested match tied at seven.
Two consecutive Kevin Kirchhoff (Penfield, N.Y.) service aces gave Nazareth a 9-7 lead, but Stevens battled back with four-straight points to take an 11-9 edge. Tied at 23, three-consecutive Golden Flyer errors coupled with a Karl service ace gave Stevens a 27-23 lead. Still up four at 28-24, the Ducks got a couple of kills from senior middle hitter Christopher Egebo to take the third set, 30-26.
Stevens raced out to an early 5-1 lead in the fourth set, capped off by back-to-back Egebo and Dennan kills. Hoping to stay alive, Nazareth mounted a 6-4 rally to trim the deficit to 9-7, but Landis recorded kills on three of the set's next four points to put Stevens up, 12-8. A Dennan kill pushed the lead to 15-10. Down 18-13 after another Dennan kill, Nazareth recorded successive points to cut it to three, a Landis kill paired with two Golden Flyer errors gave Stevens a 21-6 advantage. After a Dennan score made it 25-19, Nazareth went on an 8-3 run; to pull within one, but Stevens took two of the match's final three points to seal the win.
Landis and Dennan each finished with a team-high 17 kills, while Karl added 11 kills. Grobeis collected 57 assists in the win, while junior Aaron Ostrovsky had 12 digs in defense.
Gimello tallied a match-high 22 kills in the loss, while also adding 10 digs. Schroeder had 10 kills, six digs, and four blocks, while Kirchhoff had 48 assists.
Newbury 3, Hunter 2 (21-30, 30-22, 30-19, 28-30, 15-13)
Junior Mark Thomas (Wilbraham, Mass.) paved the way for Newbury offensively, registering a team-high 14 kills, while senior Josh Aberly (Palatine, Ill.) finished with 11 kills and eight blocks. Juniors James Beck (Havre de Grace, Md.) and Max Daley (Cranston, R.I.) had nine and 10 kills, respectively, with Daley also adding seven block assists. Fellow junior Michael Biuso (South Setauket, N.Y.) had 15 digs in defense, while junior setter Matt Talamantes (Los Angeles, Calif.) collected 46 assists.
Hunter junior Christopher Newcomb (Waimea, Kauai, Hawaii) tallied a match-high 22 kills in the loss, while sophomore Eric Barty (Jamaica, N.Y.) totaled 20 kills. Sophomore libero Sam Martin (Northport, N.Y.) had a team-high 15 digs, while fellow sophomore Brendan Feng (Jackson Heights, N.Y.) amassed 35 assists.
No. 4 Stevens 3, Hunter 0 (30-18, 30-18, 30-20)
Senior Andrew Fessler finished with a match-high 10 kills to lead the Ducks to their third-straight victory to open the 2010 season. Landis added nine kills, while freshman Tom Hannum and junior Bryant DeFranco had five kills apiece. Sophomore setter Derek Mulvey collected 28 assists, while Grobeis finished with 10 helpers.
Barty had eight kills in the loss, with Newcomb adding four kills and five digs. Sophomore Carl Skonberg (Wyckoff, N.J.) had 12 assists.
