SELINSGROVE, Pa. (Oct. 9, 2021) – After dropping a match for just the third time this season, the Stevens Institute of Technology women's volleyball team bounced back in a big way with a pair of wins over Rochester University and York College (Pa.) to close out the River Hawk Classic Saturday.

The Ducks took down Rochester in sweeping fashion 25-23, 25-19, 25-15 before beating York in four sets 25-19, 23-25, 25-17, 25-17 to improve their record to 16-3 on the season. Rochester dropped to 5-11 overall this year while York's record fell to 11-6.

Defense was the name of the game for Stevens as it has been all year as they held both opponents under an .065 attack percentage on the day to lower their season average to .081 which currently ranks 10th in all of NCAA Division III.

In the 3-0 victory over Rochester, the Ducks were led offensively by sophomore Liz Patterson and first-year Cleo Shannon who both had eight kills apiece.

Stevens got a match-high 19 digs from senior Elizabeth Chu while first-year Parker Adkins added 11 of her own as the Ducks earned their 12th sweep of the season.

Then in the second game of the day, Adkins registered her second double-double in three matches with 11 kills and 14 digs. In total, Adkins produced 18 kills, 25 digs and a .245 attack percentage in the doubleheader.

Sophomore Elle Maggio also had a solid performance against the Spartans with 10 kills and an impressive .348 attack percentage.

Volleys and Points (Match One)

• The Ducks raced out to an early lead in the opening set against Rochester scoring six of the first eight points of the game thanks to four Yellow Jacket errors, an Ava Smithing kill and a Chu ace.
• Trailing 12-9, Rochester made their first run of the match as they rattled off four straight points thanks to three Stevens errors to take a narrow 13-12 lead.
• The Yellow Jackets retained the lead and looked poised to win the opening set on top 23-20 as the teams traded points back-and-forth.
• Stevens responded in a big way, however, scoring the final five points of the stanza highlighted by two kills by Shannon, an Enkhsanaa Enkhbayar ace and a double block from Meg Dion and Patterson to win 25-23.
• After falling behind 3-0 in the second, the Ducks rallied to score six consecutive points on five Yellow Jacket errors to take a 6-3 lead.
• A couple points later, Stevens created separation when Maggio, Patterson and Shannon put down three straight kills as a part of a 5-0 run to take an 11-4 edge.
• Leading 14-9, the Ducks put the match seemingly out of reach with a 4-0 run capped by kills from Adkins and Smithing.
• Rochester rallied late, using a 7-1 run to climb back to within four at 22-18.
• The comeback effort ended there, though, as Shannon and Patterson both found the court with kills to give Stevens a 25-19 win in the second set.
• The third and final set saw the Ducks trail 4-3 early before an Enkhbayar ace, a Shannon kill and a kill from Patterson capped a 4-0 run to put Stevens up 8-4.
• Leading 11-7, Stevens used kills by Adkins, Smithing, Maggio as well as an Adkins ace as a part of a 5-1 run to push the advantage to 16-8.
• Another 4-0 run highlighted by kills from Maggio and Dion gave the Ducks their largest lead of the match at 21-10.
• Rochester was able to get its total score up to 15, but back-to-back Yellow Jacket errors sealed the 25-15 win and the sweep for the Ducks.

Inside the Numbers (Match One)

• The Ducks hit .261 in the match including an impressive .414 attack percentage in the third set while holding Rochester to .042 in the contest.
• Stevens held a 47-36 edge in digs, a 36-23 advantage in assists and a 38-25 edge in kills in the match.
• Smithing was efficient throughout the contest with six kills on just 11 swings for a .455 attack percentage.
• Enkhbayar led the way with 18 assists for the Ducks while Kathleen Riegner had 14 of her own.
• Dion had the most blocks for Stevens with four and has recorded at least one block in 17 of the 19 matches she has played in this season.
• With the win, the Ducks have now won all three matches via the sweep following a loss this season.

Volleys and Points (Match Two)

• York raced out to an early lead in the opening set of the second match of the day, scoring eight of the first 11 points on four kills, an ace and three Stevens errors.
• The Ducks responded immediately, as a huge 13-2 run that featured a little bit of everything.
• In the 11-point swing, Stevens got three kills by Adkins, one kill apiece from Smithing, Maggio and Shannon, aces from Madison Sappia and Riegner and a double block by Smithing and Maggio to go ahead 16-10.
• Maggio took over from there as she registered a kill on four of the Ducks' next five points to put Stevens on top 21-14.
• York got back within six at 23-17 and were able to stave off two set points after Chu picked up her first kill of the day but could not prevent a third as a service error ended the set at 25-17.
• The two teams traded blows back-and-forth early in the second set before York was the first to create separation with a 4-0 run capped by and Abby Diehl service ace.
• Trailing 16-14, Stevens took the lead back with a 4-0 run of their own highlighted by a pair of aces from Dion.
• The two teams jockeyed for positioning from there as the Ducks reached 23 points first thanks to a service error to make the score 23-22.
• The Spartans then turned to the block as they got back-to-back stuffs at the net from Diehl and Syndey Wilber to take the lead 24-23 and finished things off with a kill by Megan Rizzi to win 25-23.
• Neither team was able to create much separation from the other to start the third set as the largest lead for either team was three points at nearly the halfway point.
• With the score 13-11 in favor of the Ducks, Stevens made its run by scoring six consecutive points capped off by back-to-back aces from Enkhbayar to take control up 20-11.
• York was able to respond with four straight points of their own to cut the deficit down to four at 20-16.
• The Ducks were able to grab five of the final six points of the set thanks to a pair of kills from Shannon and another by Dion to win 25-17 and go up 2-1.
• Tied 3-3 in the fourth and final set, York created some early separation with a 4-0 rally highlighted by kills from Wilber and Tyler Williams.
• Trailing 10-7, Stevens got a pair of clutch serves from Riegner that found the court for aces as a part of a 4-0 run to take an 11-10 lead.
• With the score 18-16 in favor of the Ducks, Stevens finished strong with seven of the final eight points of the set thanks to two kills each from Smithing and Shannon to close things out 25-17.

Inside the Numbers (Match Two)

• Stevens had 12 aces in the match to hit double figures from the service line for the ninth time this season.
• The Ducks are now averaging 2.94 aces per set on the year which ranks 22nd in all of DIII.
• At the net, Stevens held a 10-8 edge in blocks. The 10 blocks are the second-most in a match for the Ducks this season.
• York hit just .061 in the match while Stevens hit .168, including a .357 attack percentage in the decisive fourth set.
• Riegner put down a match-high four aces while also leading the team with 22 assists.
• The Ducks now have a perfect 5-0 record in neutral site matches this season.
• Adkins now has four double-doubles this season to lead the team.

Unsung Heros (Both Matches)

• Riegner and Enkhbayar ran a solid offensive attack throughout the day for the Ducks. The duo combined for 9.85 assists per set and nine aces on the day.

From the Sidelines (Head Coach Brianna Jones)

• "It was a great team effort bouncing back after yesterday's match. We played Stevens volleyball today and it was awesome to see."

Next Up

• The Ducks hit the road once again next weekend in the Babson Quad Tournament in Babson Park, Mass.
• The tournament for Stevens kicks off with a match against Skidmore College Friday at 6:30 p.m.
• The Ducks own a 2-1 record against the Thoroughbreds including a 3-0 sweep the last time the two teams faced off on Sept. 9, 2017.
• Live stats and video will be available on StevensDucks.com.

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