KENOSHA, Wis. (February 21, 2015) – The No. 1 ranked Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team fell to No. 7 University of California-Santa Cruz and defeated No. 5 Carthage College on Saturday afternoon.
 
The loss to Santa Cruz snapped a nine match winning streak in Division III competition. The Ducks fell 19-25, 23-25, 25-16, 16-25 to the Banana Slugs, while knocking off the Red Men, 25-21, 25-20, 25-22. Stevens improved to 10-4 on the year; UC-Santa Cruz is now 13-3 and Carthage is 6-4.
 
No. 7 UC-Santa Cruz 3, No. 1 Stevens 1
The Banana Slugs jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in set one before the Ducks were able to record their first points off a kill by senior Daniel Smith. The teams then traded points until a kill by sophomore Jake Howard knotted the score at 16. Santa Cruz went on to score nine of the final 12 points, including three service aces to close out the opening stanza.

Set two saw Stevens open a 7-4 lead behind a pair of Santa Cruz attack errors and two kills by senior outside hitter David Evans. Junior outside hitter Tim Ferriter brought the set to 23 apiece with a kill, but the Banana Slugs responded with the final two points to give them a 2-0 lead in the match.

The Ducks controlled set three from the beginning, racing out to a 10-5 lead behind kills from junior middle Etan Bennett and senior outside hitter Ryan Seifert. Santa Cruz helped contribute with six attacking errors during the opening stretch. After a kill by Seifert brought the score 20-15, Stevens rolled off six of the final seven points, finished off with a kill from Ferriter.

The fourth set saw the Slugs take an 11-7 lead, but the Ducks were able to battle back and used kills from Smith and Seifert to bring the deficit down to 11-10. After a timeout by Santa Cruz, the Ducks were unable to get any closer, as they eventually fell in four sets.
 
The Ducks outhit the Banana Slugs .232-.173, including .417-.000 in the third set. Seifert led the team with 10 kills, while also chipping in eight digs and four blocks. Ferriter, Evans and Bennett all had seven kills, and Smith finished with four blocks.

Freshman outside hitter Lake Merchen had 18 kills and senior Jake Landel had 13 kills for Santa Cruz.
 
No. 1 Stevens 3, No. 5 Carthage 0
Carthage was able to race out to an early 5-1 lead, and the Ducks weren't able to jump in front until the set was 12-11 after a kill by Evans. Seifert and Evans helped propel Stevens in front, as they each had four kills during the opening period. The Red Men committed nine attack errors in set one and that trend continued into the second set.

In the middle period, Carthage made 10 attack errors while only recording 12 kills, for a hitting percentage of .054. Smith contributed two early kills to help Stevens climb out to a 10-4 advantage. The Red Men trimmed the lead down to 12-10, but after an attack error, the Ducks took control. Junior outside hitter Chris Vaughan contributed a pair of kills and Smith ended the set with a kill of his own.

After trading the first few points of the third set, Carthage took a 12-9 advantage after a 4-0 run. A kill by Smith ended that spurt, and a kill by Vaughan tied the set at 19 each. Seifert then pounded home a kill to give Stevens a lead they would not look back from. Evans ended the match with a kill to silence the home crowd and helped the Ducks rebound from the loss earlier in the day.
 
Stevens only committed 12 attack errors during the three sets, while Carthage had 25. As a team, the Ducks hit .297, while the Red Men hit only .140. Evans and Vaughan had 12 and 11 kills respectively, with Vaughan chipping in six digs and four blocks.

Senior Jon Storm paced Carthage with 12 kills and freshman setter Ricky Figueroa had 37 assists.
 
The Ducks return to action Sunday to take on Loras College and Lakeland College beginning at 2 p.m. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.