HOBOKEN, N.J. (February 8, 2020) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team earned their fourth consecutive sweep of the season over Eastern University before dropping their first match of the season against Rutgers University-Newark Saturday in the Ducks Tri-Match.

The Ducks swept past the Eagles in their first contest of Middle Atlantic Conference play 25-19, 25-11, 25-13 and dropped a 3-0 contest against Rutgers-Newark 21-25, 22-25, 21-25. Stevens is now 8-1 on the season and 1-0 in MAC play in its first year in the new conference.

Sophomore Alexei Nikiforov led the way for the Ducks in the win over Eastern, producing 10 kills and five digs while hitting .450. Additionally, Stevens got a team-high five blocks by senior Andrew Amerman to go along with three kills in the victory.

Eastern was led offensively by Foster Lobb who finished with eight kills but was held to a .000 attack percentage.

In the contest against Rutgers-Newark, junior Jack Bittker had 13 kills while junior Ryan Byrne added 11. Senior setter Grant Burden finished with 32 assists and four digs in the loss.

The Scarlet Raiders, meanwhile, got 18 kills from freshman Andrew Zaleck while hitting .467 and adding a pair of blocks. Rutgers-Newark is now 6-0 on the year and has knocked off a pair of teams in the latest AVCA Top-15 poll after defeating No. 12 Stevenson University Friday.

Volleys and Points (Match One vs. Eastern)

• Tied at five in the opening set, Stevens scored three consecutive points thanks to kills by freshman Chris Varseveld, Amerman and Nikiforov to create early separation.
• Leading 10-8, the Ducks once again rattled off three straight points to extend the lead to 13-8.
• After Eastern climbed back within two at 17-15, Stevens went on a 5-1 run highlighted by back-to-back kills from Zachary Evans and swelled the lead to six at 22-16.
• Stevens then took advantage of an Eagle service error to clinch the first set 25-19.
• The second set started much like the first, with the Ducks going on a run after the set started tied at five.
• Stevens scored 15 of the next 16 points thanks to kills from four different players to take a decisive 20-6 edge.
• The Eagles were able to trim the deficit to 11 but could not get any closer as the Ducks grabbed four of the next five points of the set to win 25-11.
• In the third and final set, Stevens went on an early 5-0 run featuring two kills by Jack Fyda and a service ace by Percy Bickford.
• Leading 8-5 the Ducks scored five consecutive points once again to grow the lead to eight.
• Nikiforov was excellent down the stretch for the Ducks, contributing to four of the Ducks' final eight points to grab a 25-13 win and sweep the contest.

Match Point (Match One vs. Eastern)

• Stevens took advantage of the Eagles' 13th service error of the match to clinch the victory and sweep for the fifth time this season.

Inside the Numbers (Match One vs. Eastern)

• The Ducks were huge at the point of attack, producing eight total blocks and holding Eastern without a block.
• Stevens hit .382 in the match and .481 in the final set while the Eagles produced a .064 attack percentage.
• Fyda hit .389 in the victory with eight kills and four blocks while freshman Louden Moran produced 24 assists, four kills and four digs in the match.
• Freshman Owen Dawson led the way for the Ducks with a career-high seven digs.
• Varseveld finished with a .545 attack percentage, seven kills and four digs in the victory.
• The Ducks finished with 37 total kills while Eastern had just 22.

Volleys and Points (Match Two vs. Rutgers-Newark)

• The Scarlet Raiders came out of the gates one fire in the first set, scoring nine of the first 12 points of the match to take an early six-point lead.
• Trailing 16-10, the Ducks turned to Bittker and Byrne as they combined for three kills as a part of a 5-1 run to make the score 17-15.
• Rutgers-Newark was able to keep Stevens at arms-length for the remainder of the set, however, scoring three of the final four points of the set to win 25-21.
• The two teams traded points back-and-forth to open the second set with neither team leading by more than two points until halfway through the set.
• With Stevens holding a 13-12 edge, the Scarlet Raiders got three consecutive kills from Robert Long to take a 15-13 lead.
• Leading 16-15, Rutgers-Newark scored three straight points followed immediately by three consecutive points for the Ducks to make the score 19-18 in favor of the Scarlet Raiders.
• Coming out of a timeout, Rutgers-Newark was able to go on a 3-1 mini run to take a three-point lead and held off the Ducks at the end for a 25-22 set victory.
• The third and final set happened much like the second with neither team grabbing a significant advantage in the early going.
• With the score tied at 13, the Scarlet Raiders went on a 4-1 run to make the score 17-14.
• After the Ducks climbed back into the set at 22-20, Rutgers-Newark ensured it would not head to a fourth as the claimed three of the final four points of the set to earn the sweep and hand Stevens its first regular season sweep loss since Kean University defeated the Ducks 3-0 on Feb. 1, 2019.

Match Point (Match Two vs. Rutgers-Newark)

• Robert Long put down his sixth kill of the contest to clinch the victory for the Scarlet Raiders.

Inside the Numbers (Match Two vs. Rutgers-Newark)

• The Scarlet Raiders hit at an extremely high rate throughout the match producing a .341 attack percentage including a .500 hitting percentage in the final set.
• Stevens, meanwhile, hit just .193 in the match, its lowest mark of the season.
• The Ducks held an advantage at the service line by producing four service aces compared to none from Rutgers-Newark.
• The service line also gave some points to the Scarlet Raiders, however, as Stevens committed 12 total service errors including seven in the final set.
• Outside of Bittker and Byrne, no other Duck finished with more than three kills.
• One of those players with three kills was freshman Nathan Lancia who had a team-high five digs to go along with three blocks.
• Freshman Alex Franke, Bittker, senior Jonathan Frenzel and Lancia all finished the contest with three blocks as Stevens held a narrow 7-6 edge in total team blocks.

Next Up

• Stevens continues MAC play Wednesday as they take on King's College (Pa.) at 7:00 p.m. in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
• It is believed to be the first meeting between the two schools in either program's history.
• Live stats and video will be available on StevensDucks.com.

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