Burrell
3
Winner Stevens STEVENS 20-4, 8-1 UVC
1
Nazareth NAZARETH 17-12, 4-5 UVC
Winner
Stevens STEVENS
20-4, 8-1 UVC
3
Final
1
Nazareth NAZARETH
17-12, 4-5 UVC
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Stevens STEVENS 25 31 25 33 (3)
Nazareth NAZARETH 20 33 11 31 (1)

Game Recap: Men's Volleyball | | Charles O'Brien

No. 3 Men’s Volleyball wins UVC regular season title with win over Naz

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (March 31, 2018)  – Graduate student Gabe Shankweiler filled the stat sheet with 12 kills, three aces and four blocks, junior Dylan DeBoer recorded a team-high 16 kills as the third-ranked Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team defeated Nazareth College (25-20, 31-33, 25-11, 33-31) Saturday in a United Volleyball Conference matchup at Kidera Gymnasium

The victory was the third straight for the Ducks, who improved to 20-4 on the year and 8-1 in UVC play. Although the Ducks are tied atop the UVC standings with No. 10 Vassar College, the win clinched the regular season title for the Ducks because Stevens swept the Brewers on February 18. Stevens will be the number one seed in the upcoming UVC championship and will have a first-round bye.

Zachary Gillard had 16 kills to lead Nazareth, who fell to 17-12 on the year and 4-5 in conference play. The Golden Flyers will be the sixth seed in the conference's postseason tournament and will take on No. 8 New Paltz in the opening round. No. 11 New York University takes on No. 15 Elmira in the other opening round match. Vassar received the other bye to the semifinals.

Volleys and Points
  • A Shankweiler attack error opened the match scoring.
  • Stevens grabbed control of the opening set on consecutive kills by sophomore David Lehman and senior Thomas Burrell. 
  • A Lehman kill sparked a second three-point rally as the Ducks grew their lead to four. 
  • The Ducks remained in front during the set reaching set point on a Burrell kill.
  • Burrell capped his strong opening frame with an ace to give Stevens a 1-0 lead in the match. 
  • The second set featured 19 ties. 
  • Back-to-back blocks by Burrell and Shankweiler tied the score at five.
  • Two kills and an error gave Nazareth a 14-11 lead, before the Ducks rallied to tie the set at 17.
  • The teams alternated points, combing to stave off six set points, before Sam Bittker set down a Garrett Rodi set and Zachary Gillard blocked a DeBoer kill to tie the match at one.
  • The Ducks responded to the tie score with a dominating performance in the third set.
  • Nazareth recorded only eight kills in the key frame, but also committed eight errors to balance out its attack percentage.
  • DeBoer opened the scoring, converting a Jacob Patterson set to open the scoring. An Antonio Sargent error and a Shankweiler ace pushed the Stevens advantage to three.
  • Four straight errors fueled a five-point run for Stevens, giving the guests a 13-5 lead.
  • Stevens held the lead throughout the frame and closed out the set with Diamond putting down a Patterson set.
  • A service error gave Nazareth a 1-0 lead in the final set.
  • The lead see-sawed between the teams, with neither side able to procure more than a three-point edge. 
  • The Ducks finally closed the match on a Byrne kill and a double block.

Match Point
  • Byrne and sophomore Jonathan Frenzel paired to block a Sam Bittker attack closed out the match.

Inside the Numbers    
  • Stevens outhit Nazareth in all four sets, and hit a match-high 0.444 (10-2-18) in the third set. Conversely, the Golden Flyers hit a match-low 0.000 in the same set.
  • The Ducks held the edge in attack percentage (0.286-0.189), aces (9-1), blocks (12-11), assists (53-51) and total points (77-67). Nazareth held the edge in digs (34-32).
  • Stevens' nine aces were the team's second-highest total of the season.
  • Junior Cooper Diamond recorded seven kills on nine attacks with two errors to record a 0.556 hit percentage. Freshman Ryan Byrne (0.714) and senior Thomas Burrell (0.417) also recorded efficient days at the attack.
  • Eight different players recorded a block.
  • The two 33-31 sets marked the highest single-set score of the season.

Unsung Heroes
  • Patterson matched a season high with 51 assists. 

Coach Speak
  • "Hard-fought match! Our defense played great! We held Nazareth to a lower percentage than us in every set. Great output offensively from Dylan, Gabe, and both middles. Awesome job by [Ryan Byrne] and [Jonathan Frenzel] getting the block to win the match. Total team win!" - assistant coach Amable Martinez

Up Next
  • No. 3 Men's Volleyball welcomes Milwaukee School of Engineering to Canavan Arena on March 4 for a non-conference match.
  • Live stats and video links on StevensDucks.com.

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