Interactive Bracket

HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 24, 2013) – The nationally ranked No. 6 Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team earned an at-large bid into the NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship on Sunday night and will take on No. 7 Baruch College on April 26 at Nazareth College. Game time is slated for 3 p.m. at Kidera Gymnasium in Rochester, N.Y. and the tournament runs through April 28.

Due to the recent events that took place in Boston, Mass. this past week, the tournament was moved to Nazareth from MIT.

Stevens (25-9), the No. 5 seed, will take on fourth seeded Baruch (33-5) in the quarterfinals for the second time in the last 20 days when April 26 rolls around. The Bearcats defeated the Ducks in four sets on April 6 at Baruch in the regular season finale for Stevens.

The Ducks will bring five all-UVC honorees into the rematch this weekend, including two of the top per set players in the country according to the NCAA statistical rankings. As a whole, Stevens is fourth in the country in hitting percentage (.303), fifth in assists per set (11.65) and blocks per set (2.51), and seventh in winning percentage (.758).

Junior Ryan Seifert (Chicopee, Mass.) was the lone first-team member for Stevens and ranks second on the team in points (351.5) and kills (293). Seifert is also third in digs (140) and blocks (67) while playing in 84 sets.

Second-Team UVC member, senior Jake Modestow (Hampden, Mass.) is the nation's top blocker at 1.28 blocks per set, for a total of 133 (107 block assists, 26 solo blocks). Modestow broke a pair of Stevens career block records earlier this season with 515 total blocks and 447 block assists.

The senior middle hitter owns the team's highest hitting percentage at .465 with 165 kills in 273 attempts. His 165 kills are fifth on the squad.

Junior David Evans (Penfield, N.Y.) also landed on the second-team and leads Stevens with 373.5 points, 321 kills and 31 service aces. Evans, the 2012 UVC Player of the Year, also ranks third in digs with 135 in 108 sets played this season.

Two other Ducks were selected to the UVC honorable mention team in senior Thomas Hannum (Libertyville, Ill.) and sophomore Kevin Aeckerle (Henrietta, N.Y.)

Hannum has played in the second-most sets this season at 115 and is second on the team in digs and is third in points and kills. 

Aeckerle hands out assists at the third-best rate in the country at 10.19 per set for a total of 1,062 on the season. He also has 132 digs to his credit.

Stevens reached the United Volleyball Conference finals but lost to Nazareth in the title match on April 14. 

Baruch is an automatic qualifier to the tournament after claiming the CUNYAC Championship on April 12. The Bearcats own a .868 winning percentage, which is third-best in Division III. Their 1.91 aces per set are also third, while a team hitting percentage of .298 is fifth.

Baruch will be led on the court by Steven Coniglio, Martin Joksimovik and Scott Standring. 

Coniglio is sixth nationally in hitting percentage (.440) and 16th in aces per set. Joksimovik ranks eighth in blocks per set (1.07) and 11th in hitting percentage (.386). Standring dishes out 9.51 assists per set to sit 15th nationally.

The winner of the April 26 match will advance to the semifinals and take on either top seeded Springfield College or Kean University in the first quarterfinal match at 12:30 p.m.

Kean defeated Endicott College on April 21 in straight sets, 25-21, 25-17, 25-22, during the opening round in Beverly, Mass.

Stevens nearly defeated Springfield on April 3 in Hoboken but fell in five sets. The Ducks led the match, 2-0, and were within one point of a sweep on four separate occasions, but the Pride rallied to claim the final three sets. Springfield won the inaugural national championship last season.

Complete schedule of the 2013 NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship listed below.

First Round	April 21	Kean vs. Endicott	Kean, 3-0
Quarterfinals	April 26	No. 1 Springfield vs. Kean	12:30 PM
		No. 4 Baruch vs. No. 5 Stevens	3:00 PM
		No. 2 Nazareth vs. No. 7 UC Santa Cruz	5:30 PM
		No. 3 Juniata vs. No. 6 Rivier	8:00 PM
Semifinals	April 27	Springfield/Kean vs. Baruch/Stevens	4:00 PM
		Nazareth/UC Santa Cruz vs. Juniata/Rivier	6:00 PM
Finals	April 28	Semifinal Winners	4:00 PM