Box Score

NEW YORK, N.Y. (January 28, 2014) – The nationally ranked No. 11 Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team dropped its 2014 season and United Volleyball Conference opener at No. 9 New York University in five sets on Tuesday night at the Jerome S. Coles Sports Center.

Stevens jumped ahead of NYU (2-1, 1-0), 2-0, on set scores of 25-15 and 25-19, but the Violets took the final three sets - all in extra points - 30-28, 26-24, 17-15, to come away with the hard fought victory.

In the fourth set, the Ducks led, 14-9, but NYU answered with six consecutive points to take a 15-14 edge. The Hudson River rivals traded the next five points and remained tied up to 17-17 until back-to-back kills from sophomore Chris Vaughan (Medford, N.J.) and freshman Gabe Shankweiler (Allentown, Pa.) put Stevens back up by two points, 19-17. NYU battled back to knot the score at 20-20 and the teams once again would trade points up to a 24-24 deadlock. The Violets used a kill from Phil Bueno and an attack error from the Ducks to secure the set victory and send the match into a fifth set.

In that decisive fifth set, NYU ran out to a 12-7 advantage and looked as if it would cruise to the match win. The Ducks would respond with the next three points to cut their deficit to 12-10 and then tied the set up at 13-13 on a kill from sophomore Thomas Wright (La Mesa, Calif.). Wright would then score two of the next three points on either side on a pair of kills to set Stevens up with match point. The Ducks gave away the ensuing point on a setting error for a 15-15 tie and then NYU put the match away on consecutive kills.

Shankweiler paced Stevens with 17 kills to go along with five digs and three service aces. Vaughan contributed 11 kills and hit .286 in the match with 10 digs. Wright hit at a .344 clip on 16 kills in 32 attempts and led all players with eight total blocks and chipped in nine digs.

Junior Kevin Aeckerle (Henrietta, N.Y.) dished out 49 assists with 11 digs, four blocks and a pair of aces, while classmate Daniel Smith (Tucson, Ariz.) added seven kills and four blocks. Sophomore Alexander Carpenter (Delaware, Ohio) put down five kills with six blocks.

Defensively, junior Dylan Schlosser (Emmaus, Pa.) notched a team-best 15 digs.

The Ducks hit .271 in the match with 57 kills. In sets one and two, Stevens recorded hitting percentages of .647 and .450, respectively, but only hit .100, .172 and .259 in the final three sets. NYU put down 59 kills and swung at a .227 clip.

At the net, Stevens finished with 14 total blocks (22 assists, three solo), while the Violets totaled 10.5 (19 assists, one solo).

Stevens hosts Eastern Mennonite University and Sacred Heart University on Saturday for its home opener. The Ducks and Eastern Mennonite play at 9 a.m. and then they take on Sacred Heart at 1 p.m.

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