NEW YORK, N.Y. (April 15, 2018)  – Graduate student Gabe Shankweiler finished with a match-high 11 kills, senior Thomas Burrell collected five blocks, and No. 3 Stevens Institute of Technology Men's Volleyball swept No. 7 Vassar College (25-20, 25-21, 25-19) Sunday to win the 2018 United Volleyball Conference Championship and an automatic bid to the 2018 NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship. The conference title was the second for Stevens since the UVC was formed in 2011.

Sophomore David Lehman added seven kills and juniors Dylan DeBoer and Cooper Diamond combined for 13 kills on 26 attacks with just one errors for the Ducks, who won their eighth straight match to improve to 25-4. Stevens has won 25 or more game 11 times under 29th year head coach Patrick Dorywalski.

Three different players had nine kills to pace Vassar and setter Zechariah Lee posted a match-high 33 assists. The Brewers saw their 13-match winning streak come to an end. Vassar can still earn one of the two at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament.

After totaling 29 kills, four blocks, four aces, one assist and six digs, Shankweiler was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

"It was amazing to see Gabe, our leader on and off the court, lead us to the UVC Championship," said assistant coach Amable Martinez. "He put together a great all-around weekend. He is the heartbeat of this team and no better way to send him along with his senior class, than with a championship, which is another piece added to an already great career. We look forward to seeing what he can do in the NCAA Tournament." 

Volleys and Points

• Stevens jumped out in front in each of the first two sets.
• A Lee service error gave Stevens the first point of the day and the Ducks extended the early lead to two on a Ryan Byrne service ace.
• Back-to-back kills by Shankweiler and DeBoer gave Stevens four of the first five points. 
• After a Vassar timeout, the Brewers secured five of a possible six points to tie the set at eight.
• Back and forth play in the middle of the set led to the teams tying at 15.
• Shankweiler converted a Jacob Patterson set and served an ace to again give Stevens the lead. Patterson finished with 31 assists.
• Vassar would close to within two after a Lee service ace, but Byrne served an ace of his own and Diamond set down a Patterson set to give Stevens a 1-0 lead in the match.
• In the second, an emphatic double block by Burrell and Diamond opened the scoring.
• Vassar would grab a one-point lead at 8-7, but a 6-0 Stevens run turned the tide. Diamond partnered with Lehman to reject a Jefferson Waters attack to open the run and Shankweiler collected two aces in the set-deciding stretch.
• Vassar pulled to within two after a Matthew Knigge kill, but Shankweiler and Lehman each posted successful attacks to push the advantage to four.
• Burrell set down a Patterson feed to reach set point and a Knigge service error handed Stevens a commanding 2-0 lead.
• Vassar scored the first point of the final set on a rare Stevens error. The Ducks committed just 19 miscues on the afternoon.
• Stevens took advantage of eight Vassar errors. The Ducks committed just one attack error in the frame.
• The Ducks took control of the final set after a DeBoer kill began a stretch of six straight points that saw the hosts take a 7-2 lead.
• Vassar could only close to within three points as the Ducks kept a comfortable distance between themselves and the Brewers, who were making their first UVC Championship appearance.
• Consecutive kills from DeBoer and Shankweiler brought Stevens to championship point.
• DeBoer served out of bounds to give Vassar one last chance, but Stevens closed the match on the following point.

Match Point

• Waters served into the net to give Stevens the three-set victory.

Inside the Numbers

• Stevens turned in a 0.429 attack percentage, making just five errors on the day to match a season low.
• The Ducks forced 14 Vassar attack errors. The Brewers hit 0.250 (36-14-88).
• Behind a match-high five from Burrell, Stevens collected 10 blocks, while holding Vassar to just two.
• A tight Stevens defense held UVC Player of the Year, Matthew Knigge to nine kills on 23 attempts with three errors. Knigge also had just one block. 
• Byrne matched Shankweiler with three aces. The outside hitter also recorded one kill, one assist and five digs. As a team, Stevens totaled 30 digs, with liberos Nico Lambert and Joshua Hinton combining for seven.

Coach Speak

• "We happened to play our best team volleyball at the right time. We executed our game plan well, both offensively and defensively. It was great to see us play our brand of volleyball throughout the entire match. We had a great hitting day and kept their best player well below his averages. Our passing game today was also solid and our setter did a great job reading their defense and putting hitters in the best position to be successful." - assistant coach Amable Martinez.

Unsung Hero

• Junior Dylan DeBoer finished the match with a 0.438 (7-0-16) attack percentage. The Vernon Hills, Illinois native also finished with a match-high nine digs and also added four blocks, an ace and two assists. 

Up Next

• Stevens Men's Volleyball will learn of its fate Monday when the NCAA reveals the 2018 Division III Men's Volleyball Tournament field via a 10:00 a.m. selection show.

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