NEW YORK, N.Y. (April 14, 2018)  – Graduate student Gabe Shankweiler recorded 18 kills, senior Thomas Burrell recorded 10 kills and five blocks, and No. 3 Stevens Institute of Technology Men's Volleyball topped No. 12 New York University in five sets (29-31, 25-19, 25-17, 25-19, 15-12) Saturday to advance to the championship match of the 2018 United Volleyball Conference Tournament.

Junior Dylan DeBoer added 14 kills and an ace and sophomore David Lehman recorded 10 kills for the top-seeded Ducks, who won their seventh straight match to improve to 24-4 on the year. Stevens will play for the conference championship for the fifth time since the league formed in 2011. 

Alex Li matched Shankweiler with 18 kills for NYU, who fell to 16-9 on the year. The marathon match, which took over two hours to complete, marked the sixth time in the last seven meetings between the teams to reach five sets. The Ducks took two out of three matches between the teams to win the seasons series.

Volleys and Points

• The opening set featured the expected back-and-forth play between the rivals, with neither side grabbing more than a two-point lead. 
• Stevens fought off a pair of set points, but NYU fought off four Stevens set points to close out the opening set on an Alex Li kill. Li posted four kills in the opening set.
• Stevens grabbed the early advantage in sets two and three. 
• Burrell set down an NYU overplay to open the second set scoring. Sophomore Michael Snajder posted an ace to give the Ducks a 2-0 lead.
• NYU would even the set at four, but a four-point rally pushed Stevens ahead. A rare triple block started the run and consecutive NYU errors closed it.
• After taking the lead, Stevens opened a six-point lead, before a Shankweiler ace closed out the second frame to even the match.
• An Evan Lindley ace opened scoring in the third, but Burrell quickly returned the ball back to Stevens, setting down a Grant Burden set. Burrell, the national leader in attack percentage, was a tidy 10-3-14 (0.500) on the afternoon.
• Tied at eight, it was the potent Stevens offense that turned the tide, recording four straight kills to give the hosts a 12-8 lead.
• The advantage grew to six after a double block by Shankweiler and sophomore Jonathan Frenzel, and the Ducks reeled off five of the final six points to win the third set. Lehman set down a perfectly-placed ball by Burden for the set-deciding point.
• The fourth set saw NYU force a deciding fifth set, taking control of the set with a stretch of four out of a possible five points to break open a 10-10 tie. A second run of six out of possible points extended the lead to 17-12 and helped NYU to a 25-19 win in the set. Neil Ferraro converted a Matin Bikdelli set to close the set. Bidelli had a match-high 43 assists.
• An exciting final set saw NYU jump out to a three-point lead, only to see Stevens rally for three straight points to again force a tie. A double block by Burrell and DeBoer drew the Ducks within one before an NYU error tied the score. NYU committed 55 errors on the day.
• NYU again surged ahead, before Stevens forced another tie at seven. NYU scored consecutive points to take the lead at the court switch.
• The match-deciding rally came with Snajder at the serve. Li sailed an attack well out of bounds and then was blocked by Burrell and DeBoer to give Stevens a 13-11 lead. NYU called timeout and Li converted a Bikdelli set to slow down Stevens, but consecutive points by the home team closed out the match. Lehman threw down a Burden set to reach the first match point of the game.

Match Point

• Burrell emphatically set down an overplay to close out the match.

Inside the Numbers

• Stevens outhit NYU on the day, 0.349-0.232, however Stevens recorded a 0.500 attack percentage in the second set, allowing the Ducks to tie the match.
• NYU only posted six kills in the third and fifth sets, producing its lowest offensive output of the match.
• Four different players reached double figures in kills and seven different players recorded at least one. 
• DeBoer and freshman Ryan Byrne led Stevens with five digs as Stevens recorded 28 as a team. NYU had 18.
• Each team recorded nine total blocks.
• NYU posted three more aces (6-3) than Stevens.
• Shankweiler had one reception error in 32 chances to lead the Ducks. DeBoer had just one miscues in 29 chances.

Coach Speak

• "Hard-fought, rollercoaster match, but what else can we expect versus NYU. We had great balance offensively having four players in double figures in kills lead by Gabe, but in my opinion, defense won us that game, getting stops at key moments, especially in the fifth set. Team win today, as we had a couple of players step up like John, Grant, Ryan and Mike, all in different aspects of the match." - assistant coach Amable Martinez.

Unsung Heroes

• Sophomore setter Grant Burden came off the bench to record 37 assists. Classmate Michael Snajder recorded one of Stevens' three aces on the afternoon and did not register a service error in 23 attempts. 

Up Next
No. 3 Men's Volleyball will take on second-seeded Vassar College in the 2018 UVC Championship. Stevens will be looking for its second UVC crown after winning the title in 2015. The Ducks topped the Brewers in straight sets on February 18.
Live stats and video links on StevensDucks.com.

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