Landis Propels Men's Volleyball Past Division I Harvard

3/5/2010 12:00:00 AM

HOBOKEN, N.J. (March 5, 2010) – Junior outside hitter Jonathan Landis hammered home a match-best 18 kills to lead the Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team past Harvard University, 3-1 (31-29, 30-27, 23-30, 30-23) at Canavan Arena in Hoboken, N.J. The Ducks, who captured their first victory over the Crimson since 2007, are now 11-8 overall on the season, having on three-straight matches.

Junior SteFan PremDas tallied 14 kills and eight digs, while freshman Jake Modestow had nine kills and three blocks. Junior libero Aaron Ostrovsky notched a season-high 16 digs, while junior co-captain Brandt Grobeis dished out a match-best 54 assists.

Harvard sophomore middle blocker Nikola Ivica (Pancevo, Serbia) led the Crimson offensively with 17 kills, while sophomore Matt Jones (La Jolla, Calif.) and senior Erik Kuld (Toronto, Ont.) had 15 and 12 kills, respectively. Freshman Derek Jansma (Lancaster, N.Y.) had 13 digs in defense, while senior Gil Weintraub (Encino, Calif.) collected 44 assists.

Stevens is back in action on Saturday, March 6 against SUNY Purchase and Sage College.

Set 1: Stevens 31, Harvard 29
Knotted at four in the early going, Harvard rattled off three unanswered points, capped off by an Ivica kill. Down 11-8, the Ducks committed three-straight errors, staking the Crimson to a six-point edge.

Modestow ended the Stevens' dryspell with a kill that made it, 15-9, sparking a 5-2 Stevens run that cut the deficit to 17-13. Still up four at 19-15, Harvard reeled off three straight points, to increase the margin to seven. The Ducks responded with a 4-0 run of their own, capped off by a Grobeis service ace, cutting the lead to three, while forcing a Crimson timeout.

Modestow hammered home a kill coming out of the break to make it 22-20, but Harvard tallied four of the set's next seven points to maintain a 26-23 lead. Down 27-25, Landis put away another kill, cutting it to one, before a John Dennan ace knotted the set at 27.

Trailing 29-28, Landis again found a hole in the Harvard defense, notching a kill to tie the set before a Crimson error coupled with a Grobeis ace gave Stevens a 1-0 lead.

Set 2: Stevens 30, Harvard 27
Trailing 3-1 to start the second, the Ducks took advantage of consecutive Harvard errors, tying the set at three before a Landis ace put Stevens ahead. The Crimson then answered with a 6-2 run, capped off by an Ivica ace, regaining the lead, 9-6, while forcing a Stevens' stoppage.

Still trailing by three, the Ducks used a pair of Landis spikes coupled with a Modestow kill to tie the set at 11. A Harvard error gave Stevens a 13-12 edge before another Grobeis ace put Stevens ahead by two. Up 17-14, freshman Tom Hannum registered a kill to give the Ducks a four-point lead, putting the wraps on a 12-5 Stevens rally.

Harvard battled back however, tallying seven of the set's next eight points, to go up 21-19. Down one at 23-22, Landis recorded another kill to tie the set before a Harvard error put the Ducks back on top, 24-23. With the set knotted at 25, Landis tallied another kill before recording back-to-back aces to spur Stevens to a 30-27 set victory.

Set 3: Harvard 30, Stevens 23
Harvard raced out to an early 7-2 third set advantage before a Crimson service error trimmed the Duck deficit to four. Still up four at 12-8, Harvard netted three-straight points to take a 15-8 lead, leading to a Stevens' timeout.

A Jones service ace coming out of the break made it an eight-point margin before a PremDas kill resulted in four straight Stevens points, capped off by Bryant DeFranco spike. Down, 23-18, PremDas hammered home a kill to once again make it a four point game.

Still up four at 26-22, Harvard mounted a 4-1 run down the stretch, taking the third set, 30-23.

Set 4: Stevens 30, Harvard 23
With the fourth set tied at four, Dennan put away a kill to give Stevens the lead, while kick-starting a 3-1 Ducks' spurt. Clinging to a slim 9-8 edge, Dennan and Modestow tallied back-to-back kills to give Stevens a three-point advantage.

Trailing 16-13, Ivica tipped the ball over the Stevens' frontline, making it 16-14 before a Grobeis tally again upped the margin to three. After a PremDas kill increased the margin to five at 20-15, Grobeis registered another ace to give the Ducks a six-point cushion.

Harvard would battle back, cutting it to 22-20 on a Stevens' error, before a Dennan kill put an end to a 5-2 Harvard rally. From there, the Ducks outscored their Crimson counterparts, 8-3 to close out the fourth set and seal the victory.
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