HOBOKEN, N.J. (January 28, 2015) – The second-ranked Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team needed just 51 minutes to record its second win in as many outings, defeating Cairn University by a score of 3-0 Wednesday night in the Canavan Arena.
 
The Ducks evened their record to 2-2, while the Highlanders dropped to 2-3. The set scores in the match were 25-12, 25-14 and 25-17.
 
After dropping its first two matches of the season to NCAA Division I foes No. 10 Hawaii and Sacred Heart, the Ducks have ripped off two wins in its first two matches against NCAA Division III foes without dropping a set.
 
Stevens 25, Cairn 12
After playing even volleyball over the first 14 points of the match (7-7), senior setter Kevin Aeckerle keyed a 5-0 run on his serve to propel the Ducks to a 12-7 lead and ultimately the first-set victory.
Senior outside David Evans had two kills in the run, senior middle Daniel Smith had one and Aeckerle picked up an ace.
 
After Cairn made it a 12-8, the Ducks ran off five of the next six points to open a 17-9 lead and Cairn would get no closer than seven the rest of the way. Senior outside Ryan Seifert and junior middle Alexander Carpenter combined for a block, and the Ducks received two kills from Seifert and one from junior Chris Vaughan.
 
Evans led the Ducks in the first set with six kills on seven attempts and Aeckerle had 15 assists.
 
Stevens 25, Cairn 14
After trading points to open the second, the Ducks scored nine of the next 12 to open an early 10-4 edge. Sophomore outside Gabe Shankweiler tallied two kills, as did junior middle Etan Bennett.
 
Cairn came back to get within four at 12-8, but the Ducks responded with two-straight tallies – the second being a kill from junior outside Tim Ferriter – to push the lead back to six (14-8). The two teams traded points, before the Ducks were able to go up eight (17-9) after a service ace from Ferriter.
 
An ace from Smith and another Shankweiler kill gave Stevens its first double-digit lead of the set (22-12), with a service error clinching it for the Ducks, 25-14
 
Stevens 25, Cairn 17
The Ducks jumped out to a 5-2 lead on the back of kills from Vaughan, Shankweiler and senior middle Ryan Brandow, and pushed it to five (13-8, 15-10) midway through the set. Junior setter John Eddins tallied a kill to give Stevens its largest lead of the set (16-10), and a Duck block from Eddins and freshman middle Thomas Burrell made it 17-10.
 
Despite not extending its lead, Cairn provided little resistance down the stretch before Stevens closed the door via a pair of errors from the Highlanders.
 
Seifert led the Ducks with eight kills, hitting .583 in the match and adding a trio of digs to his line. Vaughan had seven kills and hit .750, with two digs and an ace. Evans had six kills (.714) in one set played, with Shankweiler tallying eight kills, one assist and two digs in a fine all-around performance. Ferriter had three kills and an ace, while senior Dylan Schlosser notched a team-high 10 digs and three assists. Burrell had a team-high three block assists and one block solo, while senior setter Kevin Aeckerle keyed strong passing all night with 21 assists, three digs and an ace. Eddins was also strong, pocketing 14 helpers, two kills and two block assists.
 
The Ducks hit a remarkable .714 in the first set and finished at .571 for the match.
 
Cairn hit just .054 and was led by five kills from freshman opposite Micah Godshall.
 
Stevens will return to action on Saturday when it hosts in-state rival Ramapo College at 1 p.m. in the Canavan Arena. Visit www.stevensducks.com for links to follow the action live on Saturday.