HOBOKEN, N.J. (October 16, 2013) – In the latest NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Statistical rankings, the Stevens Institute of Technology squad appears numerous times within the top 66 teams out of 250 ranked. Two individuals are also among some of the best in player rankings which was released yesterday afternoon.

As a team, the Ducks are 29th overall in win percentage at .833 with a 20-5 record (20-4 according to NCAA DIII members). Stevens is also 54th in hitting percentage at .219 and 55th in assists per set at 11.36. The Ducks average 12.25 kills per set which is good for 65th nationally and are 66th overall in digs per set at 17.30.

Throughout all five of those categories, Stevens sits first overall in the Empire 8 Conference.

Individually, senior Samantha Gates (Wilmington, N.C.) and junior Kirsten Salmins (Wyckoff, N.J.) are among some of the top student-athletes in assists per set and digs per set. Player rankings display the top 150 participants in DIII.

Salmins is 16th in the country in digs per set with 5.78 and is less than .55 digs per set away from moving to within the top three nationally. She has totaled 504 digs on the season which is tied for fifth on the single-season list at Stevens. Last weekend, Salmins notched 43 digs in one match to set the program record to topple the previous mark of 42 set back in 2004.

Gates ranks 29th overall in assists per set with 856 in 86 sets for an average of 9.95. She is separated by exactly one assist per set from sixth nationally and just over two away from ranking first in the nation. Gates surpassed the program record for career assists last week at Houghton College. She needed 61 helpers to tie the program mark of 3,198 and handed out 85 to bring her career total to 3,222.

The Ducks play tonight against Vassar College at 7 p.m. which also happened to be Senior Night in Canavan Arena. Stevens will honor Gates, Mary Caulson (West Islip, N.Y.) and Lindsay Stoll (Issaquah, Wash.) before the final regular season home match.

Stevens will be back home for the Empire 8 Championship on November 9 and 10 after the Ducks secured the No. 1 seed in the tournament a few weeks ago at Elmira College.

Facebook: "Like" Stevens Athletics
Twitter: @stevensducks
Instagram: @stevensducks