HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 25, 2015) – The No. 1 Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team will be vying for the school's first team National Championship when they take on No. 2 Springfield College tomorrow in the NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball National Championship game.
The Ducks (30-4) are currently riding a 21 match winning streak heading into the final.
NEW OPPONENT Stevens and Springfield have only met four times in their history according to springfieldpride.com, and the Pride is undefeated against Stevens, boasting a perfect 4-0 mark. Last season, the two sides battled at the Springfield Tournament, with the Pride taking the match in straight sets.
TRUE TEST Though Stevens comes into the match as the top seed, Springfield has a slight edge as they are the back-to-back-to-back National Champions, knocking off Juniata last year to win in. The Pride also has garnered six Molten Division III National Championships.
SCOUTING THE PRIDE The Pride have three players who have over 200 kills on the season in junior Greg Woods, senior Angel Perez and freshman Ricardo Padilla. Senior setter Keaton Pieper has dished out nearly 800 assists on the year, and Padilla has tallied 51 service aces.
HOME COOKIN' The Ducks have been impressive at the friendly confines of Canavan Arena, recording a 12-1 mark including nine straight.
MILESTONES In the NCAA Quarterfinal match, Coach
Patrick Dorywalski notched his 500 career win in his 25 season at the helm of the Ducks. Back on February 28, senior outside hitter
David Evans recorded his 1000 career kill, while fellow senior
Ryan Seifert hit the mark a month later on March 28. Senior
Kevin Aeckerle hit the 700 assist mark on the season today against New Paltz, while Seifert overtook the team block lead this weekend.
ALL AMERICANS At the NCAA banquet on Thursday night, several Ducks were honored for their performance on the court and in the classroom. Aeckerle and Seifert were honored as Second Team American Volleyball Coaches Association All-Americans while Evans and junior
Tim Ferriter were named First Team AVCA All-American. Evans was also honored as AVCA National Player of the Year, while junior
Alexander Carpenter was the recipient of the Elite 89 award, given to the student-athlete with the highest grade point average at the tournament site.
THRICE IS NICE The old saying is that it is tough to beat a team three times in a given season, but the Ducks accomplished that today when they knocked off SUNY-New Paltz in the National Semifinal. Ferriter, a former member of the Hawks, delivered arguably one of his most dominating performances of the season, tallying 20 kills, nine digs and five total blocks.
GAME CHANGER The biggest move in the semifinals was the insertion of junior
Etan Bennett into the lineup. Bennett opened the year as one of the starters in the middle, but had been replaced in the starting lineup as of recently. He made a big impact at the net against the Hawks, chipping in three assisted blocks and a kill.
WHERE TO WATCH Live stats and
video will be available on stevensducks.com
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Twitter: @stevensducks
Instagram: @stevensducks
