ALBANY, N.Y. (March 17, 2018) – No. 2 Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball inched closer to clinching the United Volleyball Conference's regular season title with a 3-0 sweep of The Sage Colleges (25-14, 25-19, 25-18) Saturday afternoon in a UVC Crossover Pod hosted by Sage in Albany, New York.
Led by seven each from graduate student
Ian Bennett and freshman
Jack Bittker, eleven different players registered at least one kill for the Ducks, who their eighth straight match to improve to 17-3 on the year. With a perfect 6-0 record in conference play, Stevens remains atop the UVC standing with three league games remaining on the schedule. New Paltz and Vassar are behind the Ducks in the standings with each team only having in defeat in conference play. Stevens holds the tiebreaker over Vassar and will take on the Hawks tomorrow.
Sage's Bailey Cecchi led all players with 10 kills. The Gators fell to 8-12 on the year and 2-4 in league play. Sage is tied with No. 10 New York University, a half-game behind Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the final UVC playoff spot.
Volleys and Points
- A Scott Sanders kill opened the day's scoring.
- A string of four Sage errors over a five-point span led to the Ducks taking a 4-2 lead.
- Consecutive kills by sophomore David Lehman and junior Dylan DeBoer began a string that saw Stevens take seven of eight points. Junior Jacob Patterson collected three assists during the stretch.
- Stevens continued to keep the Gators at bay, growing the lead to as many as 11 points on a Thomas Burrell kill.
- The Gators responded with three straight points to pull within 22-14, however, a DeBoer kill, a double block by Patterson and Burrell and a Sage error closed the match. For the match, Sage totaled 33 errors on the day.
- The second set provided the closest action of the day.
- The Ducks took control on the set on a Bittker kill.
- Sophomore Grant Burden fed freshman Ryan Byrne to give the Ducks a 6-3 lead.
- The teams alternated points until Stevens put together a stretch of three straight points to take a commanding lead at 11-6.
- Stevens led over the remainder of the set, opening up as much as a seven-point lead, but Sage continued to respond, pulling back to within three after a Ryan Guyton kill.
- The Ducks, who did not commit an attack error in the second set, scored four straight to take a 23-16 lead. Three different players recorded a kill during the key run.
- A service error brought Stevens to set point and Bennett set down a Burden set to give Stevens a 2-0 lead in the match.
- An attack error gave Sage an early led.
- Sophomore Jonathan Frenzel quickly evened the match and the Ducks ran off three straight points to take a 4-2 lead.
- Consecutive Byrne attack errors handed Sage an 8-6 lead. The two-point margin was Sage's largest of the afternoon.
- Frenzel keyed another run, setting down a Burden pass to spark four straight points that gave the guests a 11-9 edge.
- Back-and-forth play saw Stevens take a 13-12 lead after a Bittker kill.
- Miscues returned to the Sage side of the court as the Gators committed four errors over a five-point period that saw Stevens take a 19-13 lead. Burden totaled two blocks during the run, recorded a solo rejection of a Guyton attack and pairing with Diamond to block Guyton again.
- A Kyle Warnock kill brought Stevens to match point before a Sage error closed play.
Match Point
- A Guyton attack error closed out the match.
Inside the Numbers
- Stevens outhit Sage .364-.141 on the afternoon. The Ducks hit a match-high .548 in the second set and held the Gators to a match-low .062 in the opening set.
- Senior Thomas Burrell and freshman Ryan Byrne each recorded an ace. Sage did not register an ace in the match.
- The Ducks held a 6-1 edge in blocks. Burrell led all players with four.
- Eleven different players recorded a dig for Stevens. Burden led the team with five. Casey Fitzpatrick recorded nine for Sage to lead all players.
- Sage scored first in all three sets.
Unsung Heroes
- Sophomore Grant Burden recorded 27 assists and has averaged 28 over his last two matches. With the Palos Park, Illinois running the offense, the Ducks hit a match-high .548 in the second set, recording 17 kills on 31 attacks without an error.
Coach Speak
- "Solid match overall. We did a great job with our serve as we put pressure on their serve-receive. Our defense was excellent as we held Sage under .100 in two out of the three sets. Our middles were great today with Jon hitting .800, Cooper hitting .571 and Tom hitting .556." - assistant coach Amable Martinez
Up Next
- No. 2 Men's Volleyball takes on No. 9 New Paltz Sunday afternoon in a match hosted by Sage.
- New Paltz is coming off a four set victory over No. 10 NYU on Saturday.
- Video links is posted to StevensDucks.com.
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