KENOSHA, Wis. (April 27, 2018)  – 

Live Stats | Live Video | Digital Program | Tournament Central

Opening Word
Making its fourth straight appearance in the Division III Men's Volleyball Championship Final Four, the Stevens Institute of Technology Men's Volleyball Team takes on Dominican University Friday evening in the national semifinals, at Tarble Arena on the campus of Carthage College. The winner advances to Saturday's national championship to face either No. 1 Springfield College or Vassar College, which face one another earlier in the evening.

Saturday's national championship is slated to begin at 7 p.m.

How'd We Get Here
Stevens reached the Final Four after topping Stevenson University in four sets on April 21. Graduate student Gabe Shankweiler recorded a match-high 19 kills and junior Dylan DeBoer added 18 for the Ducks, who won their ninth straight match to improve to 26-4. Men's Volleyball has collected 25 or more victories in 12 different seasons under 29th year head coach Patrick Dorywalski. 

The Ducks received a bye into the quarterfinals and hosted the Hoboken regional after winning the program's second United Volleyball Conference Championship.

Star Gazing
No. 7 Dominican University upset hosting No. 2 Carthage College in four sets to advance to the program's first-ever national semifinal match. All-American Luke Spicer led all players with 18 kills and Jack McGuire handed out 52 assists as the Stars rallied to take the final three sets from the Red Men.

The Stars reached the NCAA Tournament after claiming the inaugural Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Men's Volleyball Championship with a thrilling five-set victory over Benedictine University. The teams split during the regular season and the Stars outscored the Eagles 15-6 in the deciding fifth set. Dominican was placed in the Carthage regional and topped Hunter College in three sets to reach the quarterfinals.

Spicer leads the Dominican offense with 2.99 kills and 3.67 points per set. Spicer was recently recognized by the American Volleyball Coaches Association as an All-American for the second time in his career and is the second two-time All-American in the program's five-year history. The St. Charles, Illinois product was also the NECC's Player of the Year and has reached double figures in 14 matches this season. First Team All-NECC selection Ethan Klosak received an Honorable Mention and fourth-year assistant coach Doug Burchett was named AVCA National Assistant Coach of the Year. 

When We Last Met
This is the second straight meeting between the programs in the NCAA Tournament. The Ducks avenged an early-season setback in Illinois with a four-set victory in last season's quarterfinals. Then-freshman David Lehman recorded what was a career-high 19 kills and Stevens hit a highly-efficient 0.410 in the match to earn the victory. Tonight's match marks the fourth-ever meeting between the teams. 

Looking Ahead
On the other side of the bracket, defending national champion Springfield College takes on familiar UVC foe, Vassar College. If the Pride are victorious, it would set up a rematch of the 2015 national championship, won by Stevens in three sets at Canavan Arena. A Brewer win sets up a rematch of the UVC Final.

Scholarly Sunderland
Sophomore Nick Sunderland was the recipient of the Elite 90 Award for the 2018 Division III Men's Volleyball Championship, it was announced by the NCAA Thursday evening at the Men's Volleyball banquet. Majoring in Business & Technology, the San Diego, California product currently carries a 3.888 GPA and is just the fourth Stevens student, and the second men's volleyball player, to earn the prestigious honor. Men's Volleyball alumnus Alexander Carpenter was a two-time Elite 90 winner, earning the award in 2014 and 2015.

Amazing All-Americans
Stevens had five AVCA All-American selections with four Ducks (Shankweiler, senior Thomas Burrell, junior Jacob Patterson and Lehman) taking home First Team honors and one (DeBoer) receiving Second Team accolades. The five All-American selections were tops in Division III and marked a new program record.

On the Offensive
Stevens finished the regular season ranked among the top five in the country in Assists per Set (12.11 - 4th), Blocks per Set (2.42 - 4th), Hitting Percentage (0.328 - 3rd), Kills per Set (12.97 - 3rd) and Winning Percentage (0.867 - 3rd). The Ducks were well-represented among the national leaders with Burrell leading the nation in Blocks per Set (1.42) and ranking second in hitting percentage (0.506) by two-thousandths-of-a-point. 

Lehman turned in one of the top offensive performances of the year (across any division) with his 25-kill effort against Elmira College on March 11. The 25 kills were among the top four-set totals of the year and his 0.750 attack percentage was third in any four-set match this season. Additionally, Patterson dished out 51 assists in Stevens' sweep of Elms College, which was the most in an three-set match this season. The Los Gatos, California native crossed the 50-assist mark in three different matches this season.

Welcome to our Block Party
Led by Burrell, the net defense collected 245.5 total blocks this season. The Somerset, New Jersey native will finish among the all-time leaders in blocks and finished in the top five in the nation in blocks for the second straight year. Fourteen different players had at least one block for the team had eight matches with double-digit rejections, highlighted by 15 against Juniata in the season-opening Texaco Rainbow Warrior Classic. Teams are hitting just 0.169 against the Ducks, which ranks 29th nationally. 

Facebook: "Like" Stevens Athletics         
Twitter: @stevensducks
Instagram: @stevensducks
Snapchat: ducks_athletics
#AllRise