UNION, N.J. (April 26, 2019)  – Junior Grant Burden and sophomore Jack Bittker combined for 27 digs, but the third-seeded Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team fell to the University of California, Santa Cruz in straight sets (20-25, 23-25, 21-25) Friday evening in the NCAA Division III Semifinal match at Kean University's Harwood Arena.

Burden collected a career-high 15 digs and Bittker added 12, both recording double-digit numbers in the category for the second straight match. The Ducks end their 2019 campaign with an overall record of 28-6. 

UC Santa Cruz was led by Raymond Cascio with a match-high 20 kills while Jacob Shapiro, Justin Fortner and Aaron Fox each registered four blocks. The Banana Slugs improved their record to 21-16 and will compete against SUNY New Paltz in the NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship tomorrow evening. 

Stevens was held to a hitting percentage of .151 (41-23-119) as Santa Cruz recorded a .265 hitting percentage (45-15-113). Despite the Ducks holding the edge in digs (45-43), the Banana Slugs outhit and out-blocked Stevens to advance to tomorrow's final.

The opening set began with two kills from senior Cooper Diamond and kills from Cascio and Kyle Donohoe to keep the score tied at two. Stevens began to breakaway, taking an 8-4 lead following kills from junior David Lehman and Bittker, but Santa Cruz fought back with kills from Donohoe, Fortner and Fox to tie the set. The Banana Slugs took their first lead of the set when Fortner set down a pass from Sam Wittert, Cascio and Shapiro registered a block and two errors by the Ducks made the score 13-10. Stevens clawed their way back within two points, but a kill from Cascio and a block by Fox and Shapiro ended set one. 

The Ducks jumped on a 9-5 lead to start the second set as senior Dylan DeBoer recorded two kills, junior Jonathan Frenzel set down a pass from Burden and Bittker issued a kill and an ace. The teams traded points as Santa Cruz continued to trail until a kill by Fox and an error by the Ducks tied the set at 15. A kill from Cascio and a block by Wittert put the Banana Slugs up by one before Stevens took back a one-point edge with a kill from Diamond and an attack error by Cascio. Frenzel delivered another kill to bring the Ducks two points away from taking set two with their 23-22 lead, but Santa Cruz recorded three-straight points to take a 2-0 advantage heading into the third set. 

Three consecutive kills from Cascio gave the Banana Slugs a 4-2 lead to begin the final set. However, a 6-0 run by Stevens with kills from Lehman, Bittker and DeBoer put the Ducks up by four. Santa Cruz answered with two Cascio kills and an ace by Matthew Nealon, but Lehman and Bittker collected one kill apiece and the Slugs committed two errors to give the Ducks a comfortable 12-7 advantage. Following a timeouts, Santa Cruz went on a 7-1 run to take a one-point lead before a service error by Shapiro kept the set tied at 14. Two more kills from Cascio along with two Ducks' errors and block by the duo of Cascio and Fortner allowed the Banana Slugs to start to distance themselves. Stevens worked their way back to within one point after kills from Lehman and DeBoer and a block by Frenzel and Bittker, cutting the score to 22-21. Fox then recorded a kill and a block before Fortner collected the final block of the night to send Santa Cruz to the NCAA National Championship. 

Although the result may not have been the most desirable outcome, the Stevens Men's Volleyball class of 2019 ends their collegiate career with their fourth-straight  trip to the NCAA Final Four. Diamond, DeBoer, Niko Lambert, Jacob Patterson and Joshua Hinton have complied an overall record of 115-24, a United Volleyball Conference Championship and two AVCA All-Americans.  

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