Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (September 6, 2013) – The Stevens Institute of Technology women's volleyball team ran its winning streak to seven matches with a pair of victories at the Vassar College Invitational Friday evening. Stevens swept Vassar in the first match of the day and then toppled New York University in four sets in the night cap.

Stevens 3, Vassar 0

The Ducks went to extra points in two of the three sets against the host Brewers (2-1) and came away with a 28-26, 25-20, 26-24 triumph. A true back-and-forth match from the opening serve, the two squads played to 25 ties and 11 lead changes.

Late in the first set, with Stevens leading, 20-16, the Brewers went on a four-point run to knot the game. Vassar then took a 23-21 edge but the Ducks answered back to take a 24-23 lead on a kill by freshman Mary Tobin (Boothwyn, Pa.), an ace from senior Samantha Gates (Wilmington, N.C.) and were awarded a free point on a Vassar hitting error. From there, the teams traded points up until a 26-26 deadlock, where the Ducks prevailed on back-to-back kills from sophomore Annemarie Thomas (Durham, N.C.) and senior Mary Caulson (West Islip, N.Y.).

Tobin paced Stevens with 11 kills and registered 13 digs in the opener. Gates assisted on 34 kills to go along with 11 digs and four kills with a .800 hitting percentage, while Caulson contributed 12 digs, nine kills and two aces. Thomas added seven kills for the Ducks.

In set three, Stevens jumped out to a 7-3 advantage only to watch the Brewers respond with six of the next eight points and bound the set up at 9-9. Vassar seemed to seize momentum and went up, 21-16, which forced the Ducks to take a timeout. The Ducks brought the set to within one, 21-20, on a Caulson kill, but Vassar pushed the set to set point at 24-20. After another Ducks timeout, the team went on a 6-1 run to complete the sweep by way of kills from Caulson, Tobin, Thomas, Gates and junior Katie Hall (Midlothian, Va.).

Hall finished the match with five kills and two digs. Freshman Christina Sciarra (Montclair, N.J.) put together a nine-kill effort, while junior Kirsten Salmins (Wyckoff, N.J.) picked up 20 digs.

Stevens 3, NYU 1

In another highly contested match, 22-25, 27-25, 25-15, 26-24, Stevens handed NYU (3-1) its first loss of the season. Five players for Stevens recorded double-digits digs en route to a total of 85 for the team and three others posted 12-plus kills to make up a majority of the 57 in the match.

The Ducks led all the way up to a 23-23 tie in set two and were up as many as seven points at 14-7. NYU rolled off six consecutive points to bring the set to within one at 14-13 and continued to battle until the Violets captured a 24-23 lead. NYU once again obtained set point at 25-24 but watched it slip away on kills from Sciarra and the winner from Caulson.

Stevens secured the victory in set four by notching six of the final eight points after a two-point deficit at 22-20. Over the final six points, NYU gave away four of those on hitting errors.

Caulson and Sciarra posted match-highs with 15 kills apiece, while Tobin tallied 12 more. Caulson hit at a .433 clip and added 17 digs, and Tobin posted 20 digs.

Gates dished out her first 40-plus assists effort with 46 to go along with 13 digs. Salmins eclipsed the 20-dig mark again with 21 to lead all players. Thomas put down seven kills in 16 swings for a .375 hitting percentage and Hall added five total blocks, four kills and two aces. Sophomore Catie Shelton (Central Square, N.Y.) chipped in 11 digs.

The Ducks play two more tough matches tomorrow against Massachusetts Institute of Technology and nationally ranked No. 24 SUNY Cortland. Stevens and MIT meet up at 11 a.m. and the Ducks conclude the Invitational at 1 p.m. against Cortland.