HOBOKEN, N.J. (January 31, 2015) – Nine different players had multiple kills as the second-ranked Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team improved to 3-2 overall with a 3-0 sweep of Ramapo College Saturday in the Canavan Arena.
 
The Ducks have won their last nine sets over the course of three matches, improving to 3-0 against fellow NCAA Division III foes. Ramapo falls to 2-1 on the season with the loss.
 
Despite a hitting percentage of just .120, the Ducks' defense was splendid throughout, tallying 10.5 team blocks and 26 digs in just three sets.
 
Stevens 25, Ramapo 16
Stevens started hot, doubling up the Roadrunners with 10 of the set's first 15 points. Junior outside Tim Ferriter, sophomore outside Gabe Shankweiler and senior outside Ryan Seifert all had two early kills for the Ducks.
 
Stevens extended its lead to seven (14-7) on a nice run of serves from Shankweiler, but Ramapo was able to trim the Stevens lead back to five with three of the next four tallies.
 
A service error from Ramapo slowed momentum, and the lead quickly returned to seven (19-12) behind a pair of kills from Seifert and hot serving from Ferriter. The Ducks' advantage swelled to 10 (23-13) on senior Daniel Smith's serve as Stevens received strong defensive play from junior middle Alexander Carpenter, Shankweiler and junior setter John Eddins.
 
A Carpenter kill from Eddins sealed the first-set win for the Ducks.
 
Stevens 25, Ramapo 15
Ramapo opened the set by taking a 5-4 lead, but the Ducks countered with a 5-0 run to open a 9-5 margin. Junior outside Chris Vaughan did the serving, while Eddins, senior outside David Evans and senior middle Ryan Brandow all pocketed kills in the spurt.
 
A perfect set from Eddins to Evans resulted in a thunderous kill to ignite the Canavan crowd and eventually led to a Roadrunner timeout after another Duck tally made the score 13-7 in favor of the hosts.
 
A Ramapo attack error made the score 14-7 for the second-straight set and an Eddins ace pushed the lead to eight. The Roadrunners were able to come back and get within six, but a service error and attack error handed the momentum right back to Stevens.
 
Brandow and Vaughan accounted for Stevens' 20th and 21st points of the set via denials at the net, as the Ducks cruised to the second-set victory.
 
Stevens 25, Ramapo 21
The third set opened with see-saw play as the two teams were tied at one, two, four, five, six, seven, eight and nine before a service error and ace from Ferriter handed the Ducks an 11-9 margin. An attack error from the Roadrunners gave Stevens a three-point lead, before a Ramapo kill slowed the building Stevens momentum momentarily.
 
The Roadrunners came back to tie the set at 12 but three-straight Stevens points pushed the lead back to three (15-12). Ramapo again fought back within one (16-15) despite trailing 2-0 in the match, but an amazingly deep Duck squad had the answer – this time behind junior middle Etan Bennett's serve and kills from Ferriter and Shankweiler – to take a 20-16 advantage.
 
A Shankweiler kill handed the Ducks set point and match point before the sophomore sealed the match with a second-straight kill.
 
Ferriter finished with six kills and one ace, and Shankweiler had five kills and two block assists. Seifert had three kills and two blocks, while Carpenter tallied a pair of kills and two blocks as well. Eddins finished the day with 20 assists, two kills and an ace, and Brandow had two kills and three blocks. Vaughan had one kill, one ace and three blocks, with sophomore Ian Bennett notching two kills and Etan Bennett piling up two kills and two blocks. Ferriter and Eddins led the Ducks with six digs each, as Shankweiler, Seifert, Evans, Vaughan and freshman Cagan Friend all tallied multiple digs in the win.
 
Stevens will return to action at Kean University with three matches next weekend. The Ducks will square off against Lasell, No. 8 Rivier and No. 1 Juniata.