LANGHORNE, Pa. (March 4, 2017)  – Senior Alexander Carpenter totaled 10 kills over two matches and sophomore Dylan DeBoer recorded his first career double-double as the No. 4 Stevens Institute of Technology Men's Volleyball team swept the Cairn University Tri-Match with straight-set victories over the hosts (25-12, 25-19, 25-15) and Arcadia University (25-13, 25-17, 26-24) Saturday.

Senior Gabe Shankweiler totaled 13 kills and six aces for the Ducks, who improved to 17-2 on the season. Stevens has won six straight matches.

Andy Willits led the Highlanders with eight kills, but also committed 15 attack errors to finish with a -.184 attack percentage. Cairn later fell to Arcadia, 3-1, to close the tri-match at 3-19.

Jason Manley led the Knights with 10 kills and 11 digs. After its victory over Cairn, Arcadia concluded play at 10-12.

Volleys and Points

• The Ducks went on a 9-0 run to open the match. It's the longest set-opening streak of the season. Three Cairn errors and kills by Lehman, and Carpenter, and three Shakweiler aces sparked the run.
• Cairn finally got on the board on a Matthew Gump kill, but the Ducks rebounded to open a 14-2 lead.
• Errors continued to plague the Highlanders as two errors led to a 20-8 lead for the Ducks.
• Back-to-back kills by Andy Willits pulled the hosts to within 21-11.
• Kills by Lehman and Cagan Friend led to a 23-11 advantage.
• Shankweiler recorded his first kill of the set to close out the opening stanza.
• Cairn opened the second frame with three straight points and opened a 6-1 lead before the Stevens offense took over.
• Six of the next seven points went to the guests as the Ducks forced a 7-all tie. Four attack errors and two kills by Ian Bennett totaled the Stevens points.
• The teams alternated three-point runs before Stevens used two attack errors and kills from Jacob Stillman, Carpenter and Bennett to open a 22-17 lead.
• Two additional Cairn errors closed the second set.
• Stevens seized control of the final set by scoring five of the first six points of the third set, including the first collegiate kill for freshman Mitch Brooks.
• Two attack errors and a kill and an ace from Hinton opened an 11-4 lead and forced a Cairn timeout.
• Six straight points claimed a 21-10 lead for the Ducks before the teams alternated the final points of the match.
• The Ducks opened play against the Knights with the first eight points of the match. 
• A pair of Arcadia errors surrounded a Shankweiler kill as the Ducks opened a 16-3 lead.
• Arcadia would close to within 10 points, but another attack error gave Stevens the opening set.
• Arcadia scored first four straight points to open a 4-1 lead in the second, before kills by DeBoer and freshman David Lehman began the Stevens rally.
• Four straight points punctuated by a striking attack by Shankweiler claimed an 8-6 lead for the Ducks.
• Lehman and Carpenter teamed for a block of an Edwin Waters attack to open a 13-9 lead for Stevens.
• After a kill by Jason Manley pulled Arcadia to within 19-15, however, a Carpenter kill returned the serve to the Ducks and Stevens five of the next seven points to close the set. 
• Shankweiler had two kills and an ace for the set's final three points.
• In the final set, neither team held an advantage of more than three points as the teams played to a 15-15 score.
• A service ace and a triple block of a DeBoer attack gave Arcadia a 17-15 advantage.
• Thomas Burrell returned the serve to the Ducks with a blistering attack off a Jacob Patterson set.
• The Ducks reeled off five points in total to take a 20-17 advantage and force an Arcadia timeout.
• Arcadia answered with five straight points of their own to open a 23-22 lead and force a Stevens timeout.
• Joshua Hinton nailed a Patterson pass to force another tie at 23.
• The teams traded points before Stevens closed the match with the final two points of the set.

Match Point

• An Andy Willits service error closed out the opening-match victory over Cairn.
• Ian Bennett's third kill of the set closed out the sweep for the Ducks.

Inside the Numbers

• Stevens committed only nine attack errors against Arcadia, while forcing 19 for the Knights.
• In the first set, the Ducks committed just one error on 31 attacks.
• Stevens held the edge in aces, blocks, and kills vs. Arcadia and held an advantage over Cairn in blocks and kills.
• Stevens was blocked just one time by the Highlanders.
• The Ducks did not commit an attack error in the first set vs. Cairn, with 12 kills on 18 attempts for a .667 attack percentage. 
• Stevens held Cairn to a negative hit percentage in all three sets, resulting in a -.068 attack percentage for the match.

Coach Speak

• "In the first match, everyone that was available played, and played well."
• "I thought Alex (Carpenter) and Ian (Bennett) really stood out against Cairn), combined with Gabe hitting three aces really set the tone for us."
• "In the second match, it was the pins show again, with Gabe .500 for the match and Dylan and David hitting .400 or better."
• "[Arcadia] was a tougher serving team, but Gabe having three aces and Jacob [Patterson] adding two helped us immensely."

Up Next

• The Ducks continue their string of matches away from campus with a non-conference match with Hunter College on Mar. 8 .
• Live stats and video links for both matches are available at StevensDucks.com. 

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