Tournament Homepage | UVC All-Conference Teams

HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 10, 2014) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team travels to Nazareth College for the United Volleyball Conference Championship this weekend, April 12-13. Stevens opens with Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the quarterfinals on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Kidera Gymnasium.

Despite being ranked sixth nationally by the American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 15 Poll, the Ducks (20-8) will participate in the eight-team tournament as the sixth seed after posting a 7-4 mark. MIT (24-5) is fifth overall in the country and earned the No. 3 spot in the UVC with an 8-3 conference ledger.

Stevens took down MIT earlier this season in Hoboken, 3-1, on March 22 by set scores of 25-17, 26-24, 18-25, 25-23.

The UVC is arguably the toughest conference in Division III with six of the eight schools in the tournament ranked within the top 11 nationally. This year's host, Nazareth, ranked 10th in the country, boasts a 15-9 overall record and went 10-1 in the UVC to earn home-court advantage. SUNY New Paltz (24-3, 8-3) took the second seed and is also ranked No. 2 in DIII. After MIT in the third spot, Elmira College (23-9, 8-3) will be the fourth seed and sits 11th in the top 15. Fifth-seeded Medaille College (17-8, 8-3) holds the ninth position in the AVCA. Behind Stevens in sixth, Penn State-Behrend (15-8, 5-6) is seventh and New York University (16-10, 5-6) rounds out the field in eighth.

The Ducks will be led into the weekend by all-conference honorees, junior Kevin Aeckerle (Henrietta, N.Y.), sophomores Chris Vaughan (Medford, N.J.) and Alexander Carpenter (Delaware, Ohio), and freshman Gabe Shankweiler (Allentown, Pa.).

Aeckerle was voted upon by the coaches of the UVC as a first-team member after honorable mention nods each of the past two seasons.

Carpenter, Shankweiler and Vaughan were all selected to this year's honorable mention team, while Shankweiler was named Co-Rookie of the Year. A complete all-conference release will be provided tomorrow.

If the Ducks win their quarterfinal match against MIT, they will take on the winner of New Paltz and Behrend at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

The Championship match is slated for Sunday at 1 p.m.

Stevens has reached the UVC Final each of the past two seasons where it was defeated by Nazareth for an automatic berth to the NCAA Championship.

Quarterfinal action can be followed via live stats, while the semifinals will be webcasted on Empire8.tv. The link for live stats of the semifinals is different from the quarterfinals. All championship updates can be viewed on Nazareth's tournament homepage.

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