HOBOKEN, N.J. (February 26, 2015) – Senior outside hitter
David Evans of the Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team recorded his 1000
th career kill to lead the Ducks past Rutgers-Newark University and No. 10 Baruch College on Saturday.
The Ducks, who improved to 14-4, defeated Rutgers-Newark (17-25, 25-23, 25-22, 25-13) and Baruch (25-17, 25-21, 25-15). The Scarlet Raiders fell to 10-7, while Baruch is now 10-5.
No. 2 Stevens 3, Rutgers-Newark 1 Rutgers-Newark raced out to a 13-5 lead in set one behind two kills by junior Travis Mintzer and sophomore Jose Mendez. Stevens tried to battle back, but they were unable to trim the deficit under six points.
In set two, the teams traded the first 10 points, with the Scarlet Raiders jumping ahead 6-5. After a 3-0 run stretched their lead to 11-7, Stevens recorded four of the next five points off a kill and an ace from senior
David Evans and a kill by junior
Chris Vaughan. Newark continued to lead and went ahead 23-21, but the Ducks finished the set on a 4-0 run, with sophomore
Jordan Stuart recording back-to-back kills. The set was capped off by a big double-block from Stuart and junior
John Eddins.
The Scarlet Raiders again started the third set with a lead, jumping out to an 8-5 lead. A 4-0 run stretched their lead 13-8 before Stuart ended the rally with a kill. Stevens countered with a 4-0 of their own behind a pair of double-blocks and kills by senior
Ryan Seifert and junior
Etan Bennett. The Ducks closed out the third set by scoring five of the six points, with Seifert recording an ace and Evans with back-to-back kills.
The teams split the first four points of set four, before Stevens rolled off the next seven behind the serve of Seifert and the net presence of Vaughan, Bennett and Eddins who combined for three blocks. Newark scored four of the next five points, before the Ducks countered with 9-2 run of their own, running the score to 18-9. The Scarlet Raiders could not close the gap, and an attack error ended the match in favor of Stevens.
Stevens outhit Rutgers-Newark .383-.344 during the match, with the teams only combining for seventeen attack errors during the first three sets. The Ducks were led by Evans who had 23 kills, and Vaughan who posted a double-double with 13 kills and 10 digs. Senior
Kevin Aeckerle and Eddins each recorded over 20 assists in the victory.
Rutgers-Newark had four players record over double digit kills, with junior Cody Chidsey recording 13 kills and sophomore Jack Fredricks and Mendez recording 10 kills apiece. Junior Kevin McCandless dished out 48 assists in the defeat.
No. 2 Stevens 3, No. 10 Baruch 0 In the opening stanza, Stevens raced out to a 10-4 lead behind a pair of kills from junior
Tim Ferriter as well as a Ferriter solo block. The Ducks padded their lead to 18-9 behind an ace from Evans and two kills from Ferriter. Evans ended the set with a kill from Evans off a feed from Eddins. On his third kill of the set, Evans recorded his 1000
th kill of his career, becoming the ninth player in Ducks history to reach this milestone.
Stevens took a 4-3 lead in set two, behind a pair of Bearcats ball-handling errors. The Ducks went on a 3-0 run behind kills from Vaughan and Ferriter to give them a 19-14 lead. Baruch answered back with a 5-2 run of their own, trimming the deficit to 20-18. A kill by Seifert ended the run, and Stevens took advantage of a pair of Bearcat service errors to take a 2-0 set lead in the match.
Baruch started set three by scoring four of the first six points. The Ducks then went on a 3-0 run on an ace from Seifert and a kill by Ferriter. After surrendering the next two points, Stevens went on a pivotal 5-1 run with Vaughan recording back-to-back-to-back kills. Stevens was able to take advantage of attack errors by Baruch, stretching the advantage to 19-12. The Ducks ended the match scoring five of the final seven points, with junior
Alexander Carpenter registering an ace and teaming with Eddins on a double-block.
Stevens outhit the Bearcats .264-.085, with the third set being the difference, as the Ducks recorded .450 and Baruch hit .000 with eight errors. Ferriter led Stevens with 14 kills and Vaughan chipped in eight. Aeckerle led the way with 17 assists and freshman
Cagan Friend led the team with eight digs.
Chris Kaimis had eight kills and 10 digs to lead Baruch, while Scott Standring had 15 assists in the defeat.
The Ducks return to action Wednesday to take on No. 9 NYU in United Volleyball Conference action at 6 p.m.
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