PATCHOGUE, N.Y. (March 24, 2018)  – Junior Dylan DeBoer and sophomore David Lehman combined for 25 kills as No. 3 Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball swept St. Joseph's College - Long Island (25-16, 25-21, 25-22) Saturday in non-conference action at the Danzi Center. 

Senior Thomas Burrell collected nine kills on 16 attacks with just one error, while adding eight blocks for the Ducks, who improved to 18-4 on the season. With New Paltz's loss to Vassar College in five sets Saturday afternoon, the Ducks return to having control over their destiny in the United Volleyball Conference. Wins in both matches next weekend or a Vassar loss in any of its remaining league matches gives Stevens the UVC's regular season title and the top seed in the conference championship. 

Paul Curaro led St. Joseph's with 11 kills. Will Flohr added seven kills and seven digs for the Golden Eagles, who fell to 16-8. It was the first-ever meeting between the programs.

Volleys and Points

• A Lehman kill opened the day's scoring.
• Runs were the story in the opening set, with each team stringing together consecutive points to trade the lead back and forth.
• Burrell set down a Jacob Patterson set and teamed with graduate student Gabe Shankweiler to block a David Slager attack to give Stevens an 8-6 lead.
• The Golden Eagles scored three straight to trim the Stevens lead to two at 13-11, but junior Cooper Diamond converted a Patterson feed to halt the home team's momentum. Diamond finished with two kills on the day.
• Stevens kept the Golden Eagles at least two points back throughout the remainder of the opening set, closing out the frame on a Shankweiler block and a Burrell ace.
• The second set saw Stevens score three of the first four points of the frame to take an early 3-1 lead. Lehman turned a pair of Patterson sets into points during the stretch.
• Freshman Ryan Byrne set down a Patterson set then served up an ace to give the Ducks a 13-6 lead, forcing a St. Joe's timeout.
• After the pause in play, the hosts rallied for three points, but sophomore Jonathan Frenzel found the score sheet with a big kill to return the serve to Stevens.
• The Ducks continued to hold the advantage of the remainder of the set, closing the set out on Lehman's seventh kill of the frame.
• The final set saw the home team jump out to its largest lead of the match, taking the first three points on a service error and consecutive attack errors.
• The lead would be short-lived. Burrell and DeBoer registered consecutive kills to tie the set at five.
• Stevens seized control of the frame with kills from three different players and a Curaro attack error.
• The Golden Eagles closed to within one, but a double block from DeBoer and Burrell gave Stevens a 14-10 lead and forced a timeout.
• The hosts ran off its longest streak of the match, taking advantage of three Stevens errors to score five straight points resulting in a 17-16 edge.
• Graduate student Ian Bennett provided a spark to the team, setting down two kills over a five-point stretch that saw Stevens reclaim a 21-20 lead.
• Flohr converted a Michael Barfield set to force a 22-all tie, but the Ducks quickly responded with three straight points to close out the match.

Match Point

• Three straight blocks closed out the match, with Burden and Burrell combining to reject a Curaro attack for the final point of the afternoon.

Inside the Numbers    

• After allowing New Palzt to record the highest attack percentage by an opponent this season, the Ducks forced St. Joseph's into a 0.103 hit percentage for the match, the eighth-lowest by an opponent this season. Stevens countered at 0.236.
• Each team made 21 attack errors.
• Stevens recorded three aces on the day, while holding St. Joseph's to zero.
• The Ducks recorded nine blocks on the day, while the Golden Eagles posted seven.

Unsung Heroes

• The setting tandem of junior Jacob Patterson and sophomore Grant Burden combined for 42 assists. The duo is averaging 10.03 assists per set.

Coach Speak

• "Solid defensive match for us, especially at the net. Offensively, we were led by Davd, Tom and Dylan. A nice bounce-back win to get us back on track."  - assistant coach Amable Martinez

Up Next

• No. 3 Men's Volleyball travels to Rochester, New York for the final United Volleyball Conference crossover pod of the season, with matches against Nazareth College and St. John Fisher College on the schedule.

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