NEWARK, N.J. (January 20, 2017)  – Senior outside hitter Gabe Shankweiler registered six kills on 14 attacks as the No. 3 Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team opened the 2017 season with a 3-0 defeat of Juniata College, 3-0, at the Golden Dome Invitational Friday.

Sophomore setter Jacob Patterson recorded five service aces and a match-high 12 assists for the Ducks as Stevens won its season opener for the first time since 2012.

Quinn Peterson tallied a match-high 10 kills for Juniata, who fell to 0-1.

Match Point

• Winning points to open each of the first two sets, Stevens jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the match, only allowing a combined 25 points to Juniata. 
• In the third set, Juniata opened leads of 4-2 and 13-10 before the Ducks rallied.
• Freshman David Lehman teamed with seniors Alexander Carpenter and Jacob Stuart to block a Matt Vasinko attack to open a 24-18 lead and force match point.
• Juniata rallied to pull within 24-23.
• After a timeout, a service error by Michael Young closed out the match.

Inside the Numbers

• Stevens only committed 13 attack errors in the match and six over the first two sets.
• Conversely, the strong net play by the Ducks forced 25 Juniata attack errors.
• Stevens held a 13-1 advantage in service aces
• Lehman recorded a match-high seven blocks without a single error.
• Lehman and sophomore Dylan DeBoer each recorded five kills.

Coach Speak

• "Gabe was on fire tonight - he hit .500 in the first set alone and recorded four aces in the second. He was a big part of our success."
• "I thought blocking-wise, we were over the top tonight. Our edge in blocks really stands out as a big factor in the game."
• "Patterson was outstanding tonight."
• "All in all, it was a great match and a great start to the 2017 season."
• "It's always good to start with a win, especially against a team that I feel is going to be ranked at the end of the season."

Up Next

• The Ducks return to the Golden Dome for the second day of competition at the Golden Dome Invitational Saturday with matches against No. 11 Rutgers-Newark and No. 6 University of California, Santa Cruz.
• Live stats and video links for the match against the Scarlet Raiders are available at StevensDucks.com. The match against the Banana Slugs will not be streamed and live stats will not be available.

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