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ROCHESTER, N.Y. (April 12, 2014) – The nationally ranked No. 6 Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team defeated Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the quarterfinals of the United Volleyball Conference Championship, 3-1, but fell to SUNY New Paltz in the semifinals, 3-1.

Stevens (21-9) slid past third-seeded MIT, 16-25, 25-23, 25-22, 25-22, in its opener, but could not get past No. 2 New Paltz, 26-24, 25-19, 22-25, 25-15, for a spot in the UVC Final tomorrow afternoon.

Stevens 3, MIT 1

For the second time this season, the Ducks topped MIT, who was ranked fifth in the nation and owned a 24-6 record. Both teams were virtually even in hitting percentage, .231 for Stevens and .215 for MIT, and each squad tallied five service aces. The Ducks did, however, earn a distinct edge in blocks with 16, compared to 10 for the Engineers.

Sophomore Chris Vaughan (Medford, N.J.) put down an impressive 22 kills in the quarterfinal victory and hit .308 overall in 52 attempts. Vaughan also registered eight digs and two solo blocks.

Classmate John Eddins (Kula, Hawaii) reached double-digit kills with 10 and added nine digs, four blocks, three assists and two aces. Freshman Gabe Shankweiler (Allentown, Pa.) chipped in nine kills with nine digs and four blocks.

Junior Kevin Aeckerle (Henrietta, N.Y.) dished out a match-best 48 assists to go along with five digs and a pair of blocks, while fellow junior Daniel Smith (Tucson, Ariz.) contributed seven kills and six blocks to tie for a team-high.

Sophomore Alexander Carpenter (Delaware, Ohio) hit a team-best .357 with six kills on 14 swings and registered six total blocks with four digs and an ace.

Defensively, junior Dylan Schlosser (Emmaus, Pa.) led Stevens with 12 digs.

Throughout the four sets, the foes were tied 33 different times and the lead changed hands on 14 occasions. In the third set, there were 18 ties and nine lead changes.

New Paltz 3, Stevens 1

The Hawks advanced to the conference finals and will face eighth-seeded New York University tomorrow afternoon for an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship.

New Paltz outhit Stevens, .302 to .191, and scored on three more aces, six to three.

Vaughan once again led the Ducks with 15 kills and hit .273 in the match with three blocks and digs.

Smith and Shankweiler each tallied eight kills in the loss. Smith hit .375 and added four blocks, two aces and two digs. Shankweiler registered six digs and two blocks.

Aeckerle posted another match-high 37 assists to go along with seven digs. Eddins finished with seven kills in the setback with five digs.

Carpenter led Stevens in the night cap with five total blocks but only put down three kills, while Schlosser tallied eight more digs.

Four players for New Paltz recorded 10-plus kills, and were led by 16 from Tim Ferriter.

Stevens will await and see if it earned an at-large bid to the nine-team NCAA Tournament on April 14 at 10 a.m.

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