UNION, N.J.  (February 6, 2015) – The second-ranked Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team improved to 4-2 overall with a 3-0 sweep of Lasell College Friday night.
 
The Ducks – who have won their last 12 sets and are 4-0 against fellow NCAA Division III schools – took all three sets by scores of 25-20, 27-25 and 25-10.
 
Stevens 25, Lasell 20
The Ducks opened the first set with eight of the first 11 points to jump out to an early 8-3 lead, getting kills from four different players and two apiece from senior outside hitter Ryan Seifert and junior middle Etan Bennett.
 
Lasell was able to rally, trimming the Stevens lead to one on two occasions, but a quick 3-0 run behind three-straight kills from junior outside hitter Chris Vaughan turned a 12-11 lead for the Ducks to 15-11. Once again, Lasell would respond, this time outscoring Stevens 7-2 to take an 18-17 edge. From that point, the Ducks slammed the door, closing the set on an 8-2 run. Senior middle Ryan Brandow and Vaughan tallied a key block and Vaughan's fifth kill of the set sealed the 1-0 lead for the Ducks which also gave Stevens 10-straight set wins dating back to January 21.
 
Stevens 27, Lasell 25
Lasell came out firing in the second, jumping out to a 4-2 edge and leading by as many as four (9-5, 10-6) before the Ducks stormed back to tie things at 11. Seifert, Bennett and sophomore outside hitter Gabe Shankweiler all posted kills, with Brandow notching a block solo and block assist with Seifert.
 
The Lasers went up 17-15, but the Ducks quickly clawed back via a Brandow kill and Lasell service error, and the two teams went punch for punch down the stretch. A Seifert kill knotted things at 20 and a Lasell error gave the Ducks a brief lead, but two straight from Lasell gave it a one-point lead (21-20) late and forced a Ducks timeout.
 
Coming out the timeout, Stevens forced a pair of Lasell errors to take a 23-22 lead, but the Lasers came back to get the first set point at 24-23. Another error tied things and a Vaughan's sixth kill fought off another set point for Stevens, before generating its own chance at a 2-0 via a Laser error.
 
The Ducks made the most of their chance as junior setter John Eddins assisted Vaughan who put his attempt away, giving the Ducks a 2-0 lead with a 27-25 win in the third.
 
Stevens 25, Lasell 20
The Ducks forced an early Laser timeout, sprinting out to a 6-2 margin behind two kills from senior outside hitter David Evans and block assists Bennett, Seifert and Evans.
 
In total, the Ducks ended up turning that seven point lead to 15 with a 10-2 run. Much of the damage was done by Shankweiler as the sophomore had three kills and five aces, tallying eight-straight points in one stretch for the Ducks. Stevens scored 10-straight on Shankweiler's serve, leading by as many as 17, before a Bennett kill – his eighth of the night – sealed the match win.
 
Five Ducks had three kills or more. Seifert paced the Ducks with 10, Shankweiler had nine, Bennett had eight, Vaughan finished with seven, Evans ended with four and Brandow three.
 
Evans and Bennett hit .667 and .583, respectively, and Shankweiler recorded six aces. Brandow led Stevens with seven total blocks, including two block solos, while Seifert, Evans, and Bennett all had four block assists.
 
Senior Dylan Schlosser had 15 digs and four assists in a strong performance, while Eddins was excellent as well, pocketing a season-high 30 assists. Eddins also added seven digs with Shankweiler and Vaughan picking up five apiece.
 
The Ducks hit .267 on the match and held the Lasers to a .070. Stevens also recorded 43 digs and 11.5 total blocks, including 19 block assists, in just three sets.
 
Next up for the second-ranked Ducks are two tough matches on Saturday as they face No. 8 Rivier at 1 p.m. and No. 1 Juniata at 3 p.m. in Union.