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HOBOKEN, N.J. (February 11, 2015) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team fell to Division I New Jersey Institute of Technology in five sets Wednesday night.
The match scores were 25-23, 25-23, 24-26, 21-25, 12-15, which dropped the Ducks to 6-3 on the season. The Highlanders improved to 5-3 with the victory. The loss snapped a six match winning streak, and also snapped a string of 18 sets without a loss. However, these are intact on the Division III level.
In set 1, Stevens dropped the first point, the Ducks rolled off the next four points, culminating in a
John Eddins ace. The teams then traded runs, knotting the score at 13-13. Stevens was able to roll off four of the next five points, including a kill by junior
Tim Ferriter on a tip shot that landed just inside the line. Junior middle
Alexander Carpenter recorded back-to-back kills and Ferriter dropped in a service ace, stretching the Ducks lead to 21-16. The Highlanders battled back, cutting the deficit to 22-21 with three blocks in a row, but the Ducks were able to take the first set 25-23 after an attack error by NJIT. Both teams hit .200 during the opening set.
The Highlanders started the second set by taking advantage of serving errors, jumping to a 9-5 lead. The Ducks kept battling back, as Ferriter recorded four early kills to trim the lead to 11-10, but NJIT rattled off the next six points using a combination of blocks and kills to stifle the Stevens offense, and eventually stretched the lead to 19-13. However, Stevens closed the set on 12-3 run, with Ferriter registering four kills. The set ended on a beautifully executed double block by Eddins and Carpenter, lifting the Ducks to a 2-0 lead in the match.
The third set started with
Ryan Seifert recording two kills and an ace, but the Highlanders grabbed a 13-9 advantage, forcing Stevens to take a timeout. The Ducks were able to tie the score at 16-all, as the combination of Seifert serves and Ferriter attacking caused problems for the Highlanders. After another Seifert kill, a pair of Ducks double blocks anchored by
Etan Bennett put the set at 24-22, forcing NJIT to call their second and final timeout. However NJIT ended the set on a 4-0 run, gutting out the third-set win and extending the match.
The Highlanders jumped out to a 14-7 advantage in the fourth set, with Ryan Thomas recording four kills and Jabarry Goodridge recording two. The Ducks tried to find the rhythm in this set, but NJIT seemed to have an answer for every move Stevens made. The Ducks didn't go down quietly, going on a 3-0 run with two kills by Ferriter to cut lead to 22-19, but the deficit proved to be too much to overcome, and the Ducks fell, 25-21.
In the fifth and deciding set, NJIT jumped out to a 6-3 advantage, forcing the Ducks to take a timeout. After switching sides, Eddins cut into the Highlanders lead with a big solo block, and Ferriter contributed an ace to make it 8-7 NJIT. After trading points, NJIT got a big solo block by Thomas to stretch the lead to 13-10. After trimming it to 14-12, the Ducks were unable to complete the comeback and fell 15-12.
The Ducks were led by Ferriter, who finished with 25 kills (.383), nine digs and three aces, while Bennett chipped in with five block assists and Eddins had 49 assists. Seifert had 11 kills and five digs, while junior outside
Chris Vaughan notched seven kills and eight digs.
Thomas finished with 8 total blocks, and Goodridge finished with 19 kills for the Highlanders.
The Ducks return to action on Saturday to face Bard College at 1:30 p.m. and no. 7 Nazareth College at 3 p.m. in a United Volleyball Conference tri-match hosted by Nazareth.
Photo courtesy of Danny Polk.
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