HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 2, 2016) – The No. 4 Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team swept Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Penn State University-Behrend in United Volleyball Conference action Saturday.
The Ducks moved to 27-5, while PSB fell to 7-18 and MIT is 21-7. MIT topped Behrend in the middle game of the tri-match.
No. 4 Stevens 3, Penn State-Behrend 0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-22)The Lions started things off with a three straight markers, including a service ace by Anthony Sprentz to start the first set. A double-block by Josh Oertly and Tyler Fiely forced Stevens into a timeout. But the Ducks roared back after the break, as junior
Gabe Shankweiler served up five straight, including an ace.
After Behrend tied things at 18, senior
John Eddins rolled off five straight tallies. Senior
Tim Ferriter ended the frame with a kill and then stepped up to service line and fired up an ace. Behrend once again jumped out to a lead in set two, going ahead 13-10 after an Eric Theiss kill. Senior
Chris Vaughan slammed home a kill and then led a 7-0 spurt serving to put the Ducks ahead for good. PSB could get no closer than three, and a solo block by Vaughan ended the set.
The Lions used a 7-1 rally to go ahead 9-4 in the final set and the Ducks took advantage of a blocking error to cut the deficit to a single point. Behrend did not go away quietly and scored four more in a row. A Thiess kill brought the lead back to five, but Vaughan recorded seven straight to put Stevens ahead for good. Ferriter ended the match with his 14th kill of the afternoon.
Ferriter also led the team with four total blocks, as senior
Ayal Ciobotaru was tops with seven digs. Vaughan chipped in 12 kills and five digs, with senior
Scott Wright slamming home six kills.
Prior to the second match, the Ducks honored Ciobotaru, Wright, Ferriter, Vaughan, Eddins and
Etan Bennett as part of senior day ceremonies.
No. 4 Stevens 3, MIT 0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-17)MIT raced out of the gates, scoring nine of the first 13 points. The Ducks battled to get within a point, led by a pair of double-blocks anchored by sophomore
Thomas Burrell. With the frame tied at 17, Ferriter launched a kill to start a 4-0 rally giving the Ducks a lead they didn't give up. Shankweiler ended an Engineer 2-0 run with a kill to end the set.
The hosts controlled the second stanza from the get-go, and used a mid-set 3-0 run to push the gap to 15-8. After MIT pulled to within five on a setting error, the team closed to within 23-15 after a vicious solo block by Ferriter. The visitors scored four straight to get down to four, but a pair of attack errors ended the second set, capped off with a solo stuff by Vaughan.
With Stevens up 8-7 in the third set, the hosts would six of the next eight to grow the lead to 14-9. MIT would get no closer than three points, as the Ducks closed out on a 5-0 run, finished with three straight Engineer attack errors.
The Ducks hit .479 over the three sets, committing only four attack errors. MIT committed 27 errors, and hit only .101. Ferriter led the way with 10 kills and Burrell had a game-high eight total blocks. Junior
Scott Russell dished out 33 assists.
The Ducks clinched the No. 2 seed in next week's United Volleyball Conference tournament, and will meet the winner of No. 3 New York University and No. 6 Vassar College.
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