SPRINGFIELD, MASS. (April 28, 2017)  – Freshman David Lehman recorded a career-high 19 kills and the Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team hit .410 to defeat Dominican University, 3-1 (25-21, 25-17, 26-28, 25-23), and advance to the semifinal round of the 2017 NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship.

Senior Gabe Shankweiler added 13 kills and an ace and classmate Jordan Stuart tallied a career-best eight blocks for the Ducks, who improved to 31-5. The victory avenged a loss to the Stars back on March 26. Stevens' victory snapped Dominican's seven-game winning streak.

Michal Kawa had 19 kills for the Stars, who finished their best season in program history with a 26-3 record.

Stevens will take on No. 1 Springfield College Saturday afternoon. 

Volleys and Points

• Although Stevens served first, it was Adam Eboli that converted an Alex Coyne set to score the match's first point. It was the first-ever NCAA point for the Stars.
• A back-and-forth affair, the opening set produced nine ties.
• After Dominican tied the set at 20, a Lehman kill and a block assist by junior Thomas Burrell and sophomore Jacob Patterson gave the Ducks a 22-20 lead and forced a timeout.
• The teams exchanged service errors coming out of the timeout.
• Burrell converted a Patterson set to produce set point and Stevens closed out the stanza with another block assist by Burrell and Patterson.
• A Mason Solbrig service gave Stevens a 1-0 lead to open second-set scoring.
• Back-to-back kills from Nick Timreck and Kawa tied the set at 4.
• After Coyne and Eboli blocked a Lehman attack, Stevens went on a 7-1 run to open a 12-6 lead. 
• Dominican rallied on consecutive kills to pull within 14-10.
• Stevens responded by reeling off five of the next six points to take a decisive 19-11 lead, punctuated by a Dylan DeBoer ace.
• With Jacob Stillman at the serve, Stevens reeled off four straight points to push its lead to 23-12, the largest advantage of the match.
• Dominican scored five of the next six points to fight off set point, but Shankweiler converted a Paterson set to close out the set and give the Ducks a commanding 2-0 lead.
• Unlike the previous two sets, Dominican took an early two-point lead, but Lehman converted a Shankweiler to quickly wipe out the deficit.
• Repeating a first set pattern, the third set featured 21 ties, with neither team scoring more than two points in a row until Dominican scored three straight to take a 21-19 lead.
• The Ducks chipped away at the deficit, finally forcing a tie at 24 after a Timreck attack error. 
• Stevens was unable to grab an advantage after reaching extra points, fighting off two set points before the Stars won the set after a Lehman attack error. The 54 combined points in a single set were the most in a Stevens set during the postseason. 
• In the final set, back-to-back kills from Burrell and Lehman helped Stevens open a 5-2 advantage.
• Consecutive errors allowed Dominican to tie the set at 7.
• The Stevens offense took the set over, converting five kills in a row (surrounding a pair of Stuart blocks) to build a 14-10 lead.
• Dominican took advantage of an overzealous Stevens attack to take a 16-15 lead after three straight hitting errors.
• After a timeout, kills from DeBoer and Shankweiler reclaimed a two-point lead for the Ducks.
• Three straight points pulled the Stars back into the set as Dominican retook a slim lead.
• After Coach Dorywalski called his last timeout of the set, a Lehman kill tied the set and a Shankweiler ace gave Stevens a lead they would not relinquish.
• Dominican fought off two match points to draw within 24-23, but Stevens rebounded to close out the match.

Match Point

• David Lehman's fifth kill of the set sent the Ducks into the semifinals.

Inside the Numbers

• Stevens out-attacked Dominican .410 (55-12-105) to .331 (61-20-124) and its second set total of .364 (11-3-22) was the lowest percentage of the match.
• Stevens controlled the net, outblocking the Stars, 13-4.
• Sophomore Niko Lambert recorded a career-high 14 digs and has reached double-digits in the statistic in both NCAA matches.
• Sophomore Jacob Patterson tallied 48 assists, his third-highest total of the season. He did not commit an error.
• Sophomore Jacob Stillman had two assists. Stevens had five on the day, while Dominican had only two.
• Jordan Stuart and Thomas Burrell combined for 13 kills on 18 attack with no errors (.722) to go along with 12 blocks.

Coach Speak (Martinez)

• "The guys did a great job sticking to the game plan."
• "Our liberos did a great job defensively and in the serve-receive, which helped our setter have a great day running our offense, leading to strong hit percentage."
• "We did a great job of taking away their strength and attacked what we felt were their weaknesses. This reflected in our hit percentage and total blocks."
• "Our middles did a great job all day on both sides of the net."
• "Gabe was the glue, as he did a little of everything, even jumping in and getting an important assist."
• On the Shankweiler left-handed kill in the fourth set that halted a Dominican run: "That kill was simply huge and then he followed that up by going back and serving us into the lead."

From the Court (Stuart)

• "We executed really well today due to our success passing. It allowed us to run an effective offense."
• "We also blocked much better this time around and were able to key in on their go-to hitters."

Up Next

• The Ducks will take on the top-ranked Springfield College in the \NCAA Semifinals Saturday at 4:00 p.m. The teams have not played since Stevens' 3-0 victory over the pride in the 2015 NCAA Division III Championship match.
• "[Springfield] has a well-balanced attack led by several All-American players, including the national Player of the Year," Martinez added. "We have a tall task ahead, but we will get to work on a game plan immediately, but feel our team is playing well and is up to the task."

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