Box Score

HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 3, 2013) – The nationally ranked No. 4 Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team led the defending national champions and No 1 Springfield College, 2-0, in the match and were within one point from completing the sweep, but wound up losing in five sets on Senior Night. Wednesday night's match lasted over three hour due to the five sets and a one-hour delay in the fifth set because of a fire alarm halfway through the final set.

Stevens jumped out to a 2-0 advantage after a 25-23 first set victory and a 25-17 decision in the second set, but lost the final three sets by scores of 30-28, 25-16 and 15-7. In the third set, the Ducks were within one point on four separate occasions (24-22, 24-23, 25-24 and 28-27) from capping off the sweep, but the Pride fought back to keep the match alive. Springfield would go on to dominate sets four and five to come away with the victory. There were 18 ties and nine lead changes in the third set.

In the first set, both team traded points up until the Ducks took a 7-6 edge and never trailed for the remainder of the game. Stevens carried its momentum over to the second set and led from the opening point of the set to tally the 25-17 win.

Springfield never trailed in the fourth and fifth sets. The Pride jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the final game to force a Stevens timeout and after the teams switched sides of the court with the Pride leading, 8-3, Stevens tallied the ensuing point. With the set at an 8-4 difference, the fire alarm in the Schaefer Center went off due to a fire in the lower level of the complex which caused a one-hour delay in the match. Springfield was not deterred by the hiatus and outscored Stevens, 7-3.

Three Ducks recorded double-digit kills in the loss. Juniors David Evans (Penfield, N.Y.) and Ryan Seifert (Chicopee, Mass.) each tallied 16 kills, while senior Thomas Hannum (Libertyville, Ill.) compiled 14 kills. Seifert also chipped in six blocks and two service aces.

Senior Jake Modestow (Hampden, Mass.) posted seven total blocks in the match to set a new school record with 499 in his career. Modestow came into Wednesday night's game just five blocks from tying the old school mark and also added eight kills in 11 swings.

Sophomore Kevin Aeckerle (Henrietta, N.Y.) paced all players with 52 assists to go along with six digs, while freshman Chris Vaughan (Medford, N.J.) registered a match-high 17 digs.

As a team, the Ducks finished with 22 total blocks and hit .261. Stevens hit .462 in set one and .310 in set two, but only hit .239, .160 and .062 in the final three sets. Springfield posted a .287 hitting percentage which was highlighted by a .455 clip in the fourth set and .727 in set five.

The Ducks wrap up their regular season with a tri-match at No. 7 Baruch College on April 6. Stevens will play York College (N.Y.) at 12:30 p.m. and then take on Baruch at 2:30 p.m. On April 13, Stevens will travel to Nazareth College for the United Volleyball Conference tournament and will take on Elmira College in the quarterfinals.