HOBOKEN, N.J. (Nov. 4, 2021) – For the ninth straight season and the first under head coach Brianna Jones, the Stevens Institute of Technology women's volleyball team will compete in the conference title match as they took down #3 Misericordia University 3-1 Wednesday night inside Canavan Arena.

Led by 17 kills from sophomore Liz Patterson and 11 more on just 23 swings by first-year Cleo Shannon, the Ducks defeated the Cougars 25-18, 25-9, 24-26, 25-20 as the quest to defend their MAC Freedom Tournament crown continues.

Stevens will now advance to the conference title match where they will take on #1 DeSales University in Center Valley, Pa., Saturday afternoon with a spot in the NCAA Division III Tournament on the line.

Patterson also added five digs in the win, finishing one kill shy of setting a new career-high in kills and has now reached double-digit kills in nine of her last 11 contests. Shannon, meanwhile, was extremely efficient throughout the night as she racked up a .348 attack percentage after committing just three errors in 23 attempts.

The Ducks hit .280 in the match, the third-highest attack percentage of the season, while holding Misericordia to .135. It is the seventh time in the last eight matches and 28th time overall Stevens has held its opponent under a .200 hitting percentage.

The theme of dominant serving continued as well as Stevens, who came into the night ranked 12th in DIII in total service aces, finished the night with 11 aces to reach double figures for the 17th time this season.

Enkhsanaa Enkhbayar and Elizabeth Chu led the way with three aces apiece for the Ducks and were also fantastic passers, along with Kathleen Riegner, all night.

Chu produced 15 more digs for reach double figures for the 29th straight match while Riegner and Enkbayar combined for 40 assists in the win.

Stevens is now one victory away from winning back-to-back conference titles for the first time since 2008-09 as a member of the Empire 8.

Inside the Numbers

• Kathleen Riegner added 21 assists to her ledger to give her 1,985 in her career. She needs just 15 more to become just the sixth student-athlete in program history to reach 2,000 career digs.
• In this string of nine consecutive conference championship appearances, Stevens has won just three titles with the last one coming in 2019 as a member of the MAC Freedom.
• Sophomore Elle Maggio also had a fantastic night with nine kills on 21 swings for a .381 attack percentage.
• First-year Parker Adkins picked up seven more assists and added seven digs, two aces and a block in the contest.
• Stevens held an edge in kills (51-42), aces (11-7 and assists (44-37) while the wo teams tied with seven blocks apiece.
• The Ducks were able to side-out 64.9 percent of the time while the Cougars did so at a 48 percent clip.
• Sadie Stockslager was the leading attacker for Misericordia with 13 kills while Fiona Pyfer added 10 of her own to go along with nine digs for a near double-double.
• The second set was dominant for Stevens as the Ducks did not commit a single error and produced a .438 attack percentage in the stanza.

From the Sidelines (Head Coach Brianna Jones)

• "Postseason wins are always a ton of fun. I love how we pushed through some adversity tonight to pick up the W. Can't wait to get back out there Saturday and play for the title."

Next Up

• Stevens will look to avenge its only conference loss of the 2021 season as they travel to take on DeSales in a road contest scheduled currently for 2:00 p.m.
• The Bulldogs knocked off the Ducks 3-2 on Oct. 26 and will look to do the same in this matchup.
• Live stats and video will be available on StevensDucks.com.

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