Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Cambridge, Mass. (March 7, 2015) – The No. 2 Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team knocked off No. 11 Elmira College 3-1 and No. 13 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 3-0 on Saturday.
 
The Ducks who are now 17-4, 6-0 in the United Volleyball Conference, saw their winning streak extend to eight with the victories. The Soaring Eagles fell to 17-9, 3-2 in the UVC while the Engineers fell to 13-6, 2-2 in conference play.
 
No. 2 Stevens 3, No. 11 Elmira 1 (25-23, 23-25, 25-16, 25-15)
 
The teams traded the first nine points, with Elmira taking advantage of a pair of attack errors and jumped out to 7-5 lead. After falling behind 20-16, the Ducks went on a 4-0 run with junior Alexander Carpenter recording two kills and senior David Evans recording one of his own. The Soaring Eagles retook the lead on a kill from junior Andrew Johnson, but Stevens closed out the first set with four of the final markers, with Evans and junior Tim Ferriter knocking home back-to-back kills to end the stanza.
 
The second period saw the Ducks race out to an 8-6 margin, with junior Etan Bennett recording a service ace. Stevens continued to lead, jumping ahead 12-9 behind an ace and a kill from Evans. Elmira was able to take the control of the set behind two kills from junior Erik Griffin. Stevens tied it up at 23 all, but the Soaring Eagles tied the match at one set apiece behind kills from juniors Carlos Faccio and Mike Ellison.
 
Stevens took advantage of a trio of Soaring Eagles attack errors in the third set, storming out to a 7-3 lead. A Griffin kill stopped that rally, but Ferriter served four straight points in the midst of a 5-0 run, forcing Elmira into a timeout. Three Ellison kills brought the Soaring Eagles back into the contest, but the Ducks closed out on a 7-2 run, capped off by a Ferriter kill to give them a 2-1 set lead.
 
Senior Kevin Aeckerle opened the fourth set with three straight points, including an ace. Elmira chipped away, getting within one point to 6-5. After a kill from Bennett and a Soaring Eagle attack error, the Ducks never looked back. A kill by freshman Matthew Buffum once again trimmed the deficit to three, Aeckerle led Stevens on a 7-0 run, setting up match point. After Elmira forced a side-out, sophomore Jordan Stuart ended the match with a kill.
 
Stevens hit .312 for the match, including a .458 in set three and .423 in set four. Elmira hit .192 overall and did not break .125 over the final two sets.

Evans powered Stevens with 22 kills, a .500 hitting percentage, and eight digs and Ferriter tallied 10 kills and seven digs. Bennett and Carpenter tacked on four and three blocks, respectively. Aeckerle totaled 25 assists and five digs and junior John Eddins (Kula, Hawaii) produced 19 assists and six blocks.
Griffin registered a double-double on 17 kills and 10 digs with Ellison coming in next with 15 kills for Elmira.            

No. 2 Stevens 3, No. 13 MIT 1 (25-18, 25-20, 25-20)

The Ducks jumped all over the Engineers in set one behind three kills from junior Chris Vaughan and two kills from senior Ryan Seifert to take a 13-5 lead. MIT took five of the next seven points to trim the lead to 16-11. Kills from Vaughan, Seifert and Stuart put Stevens up 22-16, but the Engineers once again hung around and connected for the next two points. A kill by Ferriter put a stop to that rally, and Bennett ended set one off a feed from Aeckerle.

The teams split the first 18 points of the second period before a kill by Bennett put the Ducks on top 12-10. Eddins dished out two assists to Ferriter and Vaughan to continue the momentum swing for Stevens, but MIT battled back to knot the set up at 18 apiece. The Ducks went on a 6-1 run, but were unable to end the set. After a kill by senior Alex Klein stopped the rally, a service error handed the set to Stevens and gave them a 2-0 lead.

Stevens notched the first two points of set three behind two kills from Stuart. MIT took a 4-3 lead on a pair of solo blocks, one each by freshman Jack Serrino and sophomore Martin Krasuski. The game remained close until Stevens used a pair of 3-0 runs to jump ahead 17-13. Two more Vaughan kills stretched the lead to 19-14 but the Engineers took advantage of attack errors to cut the lead back down to three. However that would be as close as they got, as Seifert and Ferriter had back-to-back kills to end the match.

Stevens never hit lower than .290 in any of three sets, recording a hitting percentage of .320 throughout the contest, compared to MIT who only hit .141 throughout.

Vaughan racked up 11 kills, 10 digs, and two blocks with Seifert generating 10 kills, six digs, and two blocks. Ferriter compiled 11 digs, nine kills, and five blocks while Stuart totaled seven kills, a .636 hitting performance, and four blocks. Aeckerle and Eddins shared setting duties, finishing with 21 and 16 assists, respectively.

Krasuski posted eight kills, six digs, and three blocks for MIT as Serrino earned three blocks. Junior Brandon Chang distributed 30 assists.

Stevens returns to action Wednesday as it battles Division I New Jersey Institute of Technology at 6 p.m. in Newark. The Ducks fell to the Highlanders in five sets back on February 11th in Canavan Arena.

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