BABSON PARK, Md. (Oct. 15, 2021) – Sophomore Liz Patterson produced a career-high 15 kills and hit .303 to lead the Stevens Institute of Technology women's volleyball team to a 3-1 win over Skidmore College Friday night to start the Babson Quad Tournament.

The Ducks dropped the opening set 29-27 before rallying from behind to win the next three sets 25-18, 25-19, 25-19 and improve to 17-3 on the year while Skidmore fell to 10-11 overall this season.
Patterson, who had a career-high of 13 kills against Stockton University earlier this season, had just five errors on the night and helped Stevens hit .216 push their win streak to three straight matches.

The 17-3 start is the best 20-game stretch to open a season for the Ducks since 2016 when Stevens won the Empire 8 Conference Regular Season title and advanced to the Regional Final in the NCAA Tournament.

The Ducks also got a solid performance from sophomore Elle Maggio as she racked up 10 kills with a .261 attack percentage. Maggio has now produced double-digit kills in three of her last four outings.

Defensively, Stevens got another solid effort out of senior Elizabeth Chu who registered 21 digs to extend her consecutive streak of matches with at least 10 digs to 17. First-year Parker Adkins also finished in double figures in digs with 11 while finishing just one kill short of a double-double with nine.

Volleys and Points

• The opening set of the match saw Skidmore jump out to an early lead by winning seven of the first 10 points highlighted by two kills from Zoe Beals.
• Trailing 11-6, Stevens made their first run of the contest as they rattled off five straight points thanks to kills from Ava Smithing, Cleo Shannon and Adkins to tie things up at 11-11.
• The two teams traded points back-and-forth from there with the Ducks taking the slight 20-18 lead looking to go up 1-0.
• The Thoroughbreds answered, however, with four consecutive points on three Stevens errors to re-take the lead at 22-20.
• After kills from Smithing, Adkins and Patterson, Stevens found themselves back on top with a set point up 24-23.
• Skidmore turned to Beals for a response, and she delivered with a big kill to stave off a set point.
• The Ducks again had a set point up 27-26, but could not finish the job as the Thoroughbreds fought off set point to tie things at 27 and then got back-to-back kills from Chelsea Winegar to win a thrilling opening stanza 29-27.
• The second set belonged to Stevens from the jump as the Ducks moved ahead 8-5 early before using an 8-0 run highlighted by two Adkins kills, one each from Maggio, Smithing and Cleo Shannon and a Kathleen Riegner service ace.
• The Thoroughbreds made things interesting with an 8-1 run of their own to cut the deficit back down to three at 18-15.
• Ultimately, though, Stevens proved to be too much, closing the set by taking seven of the final 10 points thanks to four Skidmore errors.
• Tied 6-6 in the third set, the Thoroughbreds looked as if they might take the advantage right back with a 6-1 run to move ahead 12-7.
• Trailing 14-9, the Ducks made their run when Riegner, Smithing and Patterson brought Stevens back within one at 15-14 with a 5-1 rally.
• Stevens then sent Enkhsanaa Enkhbayar back to the service line for what proved to be a solid rotation as she put down a pair of aces and Patterson added two kills as a part of a 5-0 run to give the Ducks a 19-16 lead.
• Leading 21-19, Stevens took advantage of three consecutive errors by Skidmore and capped a 4-0 run with a kill from Shannon to win 25-19.
• Tied at 4-4 in the fourth and final set, the Ducks again turned to the solid rotation with Enkhbayar at the service line and got a 5-0 run thanks in large part to three kills by Patterson.
• With the score 13-9, Stevens extended the lead once again with a 6-1 run capped by back-to-back kills from Maggio to run the score to 19-10.
• Skidmore got back within three with a 4-0 run to make the score 22-19, but did not get any closer as the Ducks scored the final three points to win 25-22.

Match Point

• Having already found the court with an ace to send things to a match point, sophomore Megan Dion did it one more time as she roped a serve over the net that found the ground to give the Ducks a 3-1 win.

Inside the Numbers

• Stevens out-hit Skidmore .216 to .165 in the match with a 55-41 advantage in kills.
• The .165 attack percentage is the second-best for an opponent against the Ducks this season.
• Riegner led the way for Stevens with 26 assists while Enkhbayar added 16 of her own.
• The Ducks are still yet to play in a five-set match this season but improve to 5-3 in four-set matches on the year.
• Smithing and Shannon were both solid in the contest with seven kills each while Dion added five of her own.
• Stevens put down 11 aces to give the Ducks 10 matches this season with double-digit aces, matching the number set in the entirety of the 2019 season.
• Stevens maintained their perfect record in neutral site matches, moving to 6-0.

Unsung Hero

• Not only did she end the match with back-to-back aces, Dion also added five kills, two digs and a team-high three blocks in the win.

From the Sidelines (Head Coach Brianna Jones)

• "I loved the way we pushed through after not playing our best. It was a lot of fun getting back into actual competition after a full week of training."

Next Up

• The Ducks conclude play in the Babson Quad Saturday as they take on Wentworth Institute of Technology at 3:30 p.m. and Babson College at 6:00 p.m.
• It is believed to be the first matchup between either of these two programs and Stevens in women's volleyball.
• Live stats and video will be available on StevensDucks.com.

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