HOBOKEN, N.J. (March 28, 2015) – Senior Ryan Seifert recorded his 1,000 career kill as the No. 1 Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball swept two United Volleyball Conference matches on Saturday.
 
Seifert became the second member of the Ducks to reach this milestone this year as fellow senior David Evans hit the mark on February 28. With the two victories, Stevens also clinched the No. 1 seed in the United Volleyball Conference tournament and will have home court throughout the tourney starting on Friday, April 10.
 
No. 1 Stevens 3, Penn State-Behrend 0 (25-18, 25-9, 25-15)
 
The Lions (11-15, 1-8 UVC) played tough in the opening set, even taking a 11-10 lead after a service ace by senior Ty Sheehan. The Ducks (23-4, 8-0 UVC) shook off the opening rust and used a 7-0 run behind a pair of kills from junior Chris Vaughan and a pair of service aces from Seifert to take a 17-11 lead. Penn State trimmed the lead down to five after a double-block by sophomore Trenton Munk and junior Eric Theiss, but the Ducks took the opening period after a vicious triple-block by Seifert, Vaughan and senior Daniel Smith.
 
Stevens took the first two points of set two and didn't look back. They scored 11 of the first 14 with Vaughan picking up two kills and junior Etan Bennett racking up three. The Ducks closed out the set on 9-1 run with Vaughan notching three aces including one on set point.
 
The Lions jumped out to a quick 3-1 lead before senior Ryan Brandow racked up three points including a service ace. Behind the serve of junior Derrick Sokol, the Ducks pushed ahead 9-5 and was aided by kills from Vaughan and freshman Thomas Burrell. After cutting the lead down to seven, Sokol added a kill and then a double-block by Burrell and Sokol extended the lead to eight which was as close as Penn State would get. Vaughan led a 3-0 run to cap off the opening match.
 
The Ducks outhit the Lions .368-.090 over the course of the three sets, including a .571-.000 edge in the middle period. Stevens received kills from 12 different players and were led by nine from Vaughan, five from Seifert and four from Sokol. Senior Kevin Aeckerle and junior John Eddins combined for 30 assists while senior Dylan Schlosser finished with a team high 10 digs.
 
Sheehan led the way with five kills and seven digs for the Lions, who also fell to Vassar 3-1 in the other match in today's UVC Crossover. Sophomore Mitch Farabaugh had 10 assists in the defeat.
 
No. 1 Stevens 3, Vassar 0 (25-12, 25-21, 25-20)
 
Much like the second set against Penn State, the Ducks led wire-to-wire. After the Ducks received a double-block from Eddins and sophomore Jordan Stuart, to go up 8-3, the Brewers scored six of the next eight taking advantage of several unforced errors and trailed only by one point. A kill by Smith put Stevens up 11-9, and they proceeded to take 14 of the final 17 points behind two blocks from Seifert and a pair of kills from Stuart. With his second kill of the set, Seifert became the tenth person in Stevens men's volleyball history to join the 1,000 kill plateau.
 
The second stanza started off in the Ducks favor as they used a service error and an attack error coupled with an ace from junior Tim Ferriter to open a 3-0 lead. Vassar (15-12, 2-4 UVC) came back to even things at five off a kill from freshman Matthew Knigge, but would be as close as they would get. A 3-0 run extended the Stevens lead and a kill from Wright with a Brewer attack error opened the lead back to five points. Vassar once again cut the lead to one after an ace from junior Erik Halberg, but the Ducks used a 3-0 run from Wright to end the second set. Stevens was aided by 10 attack errors during the middle period.
 
Aeckerle rolled off the first four points of the third set with Brandow and junior Alexander Carpenter combining for a block and Brandow capping the rally off with a kill. The Brewers notched the next three points and ended up tying the score at five after a kill from sophomore Christian Lizana. After the two sides traded the next four points, Stevens went on a momentum swinging 7-1 run while Vassar committed a trio of attack errors. The guests hung around and cut the Ducks lead back down to four, but a 4-1 run by the home team ended any hopes of a comeback. Brandow capped off the match with a kill off a beautiful feed from Aeckerle.
 
Smith led a well-balanced attack with six kills while Vaughan, Ferriter and Brandow all had four a piece. Ferriter and Schlosser each had five digs while the setting duo of Aeckerle and Eddins had 14 and 10 assists respectively. In the opening set, the Ducks outhit Vassar .278- (-.261) and forced the Brewers into 29 attack errors over the match.
 
Lizana led the Brewers with nine kills while freshman Zechariah Lee had 29 assists.
 
Stevens will be back in action Wednesday taking on No. 9 NYU with first serve at 7 p.m. in Canavan Arena.

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