St. DAVIDS, Pa. (March 16, 2021) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team racked up 19 total blocks against Eastern University and won a pair of matches in 3-0 fashion Tuesday, taking match one 27-25, 25-20, 25-22 and match two 25-22, 25-16, 25-21.

The sweeps were the first two of the season for the Ducks who moved to 3-3 on the young season and earned six critical points in the Middle Atlantic Conference standings.

In the first match of the night, Stevens got a 12-kill, 12-dig double-double from sophomore Nathan Lancia and held an 11-3 edge in total blocks. The second contest featured another sophomore, Percy Bickford, with double-digit kills as he matched his career-high with 13 while hitting .462.

Overall, the Ducks held the Eagles to a .117 attack percentage across both matches and only had one set where they allowed Eastern to hit over .200.

Volleys and Points (Match One)

• The Ducks quickly jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the opening set thanks to a Jack Fyda service ace as well as kills from both Bickford and Lancia.
• Eastern answered with an immediate 5-0 run of their own that featured two kills, a service ace and a block to take a 6-4 edge.
• Trailing 10-8, Stevens was able to rattle off four straight points after kills from Percy and Fyda to re-take the lead at 12-10.
• The Eagles responded immediately once again by taking five of the next six points, taking advantage of three Duck errors, to lead 15-13.
• With the score 21-19 in favor of Eastern, Stevens turned to its defense and, more specifically, Alex Franke who produced back-to-back solo blocks at the net to give the Ducks a one-point lead.
• After trading points back-and-forth for the rest of the set, the Eagles threatened to take the first set as they went ahead 25-24 and had the first set-point opportunity.
• Stevens was not to be denied, however, as they were able to side-out and give the ball to Fyda at the service line. The junior proceeded to rip a pair of big serves, one for an ace and one that was too tough to get back over and resulted in an error to seal the victory 27-25.
• Set number two saw Eastern jump out to an early 13-8 edge as they looked to even up the match.
• The Ducks countered once again though, scoring five consecutive points on kills from Colin Nikc and Lancia as well as a Franke-Percy double-block to tie things up at 13.
• Behind 17-15 later in the set, Stevens turned to their advantage at the net once again as Stedman Van Arsdale and Jack Fyda teamed up for two crucial blocks on consecutive points to give Stevens the edge.
• With the score tied at 20-all, the Ducks re-gained the serve on a kill from Lancia and took advantage of four consecutive Eastern errors to win the set 25-20.
• The third set was a back-and-forth affair throughout, with Stevens taking its biggest lead of the set at 10-6 after a pair of solo blocks from Jacob Stark and Fyda.
• Eastern was able to climb right back into the match and eventually take the lead at 21-20 thanks to kills from Lucas Adam and Justin Flor.
• Much like they had done all match, the Ducks answered the bell as they scored five of the final six points of the set thanks to a Bickford kill, a Chris Varseveld-Lancia double-block, two Eastern errors and a Nikc service ace.

Inside the Numbers (Match One)

• Stevens held Eastern to an .067 attack percentage in the match including -.095 in the decisive third set.
• Lancia's double-double is even more impressive when considering he led all Stevens players who had at least five swings with a .409 attack percentage, committing just three errors.
• Bickford was second on the team with eight kills while Fyda totaled five and added a team-high three service aces.
• Nikc racked up 20 assists in the contest as the Ducks held a 31-26 advantage in that category.
• The 11 blocks in the match were the most for Stevens in a three-setter since the Ducks totaled 11 in a sweep of Rutgers-Newark on January 20, 2018.
• The Eagles did have an edge on the service line with eight service aces compared to five for Stevens.

Volleys and Points (Match Two)

• The first set was a true back-and-forth affair with neither team leading by more than two points over halfway through the stanza.
• Trailing 18-17, the Ducks turned to Lancia in a big spot and the sophomore delivered with a kill, a block assist (with Varseveld) and a service ace as a part of a 5-1 run that gave Stevens a 23-19 lead.
• After Loudan Moran, who played the majority of the second match at setter, gave the Ducks two set points with his first kill of the night, Eastern was able to stave off a pair of set points before eventually falling 25-22 on a kill from Fyda.
• A Moran service ace and two Lancia kills put Stevens ahead 4-1 early in the second set.
• Leading 6-4, the Ducks put together an impressive run as they rattled off six straight points to take a commanding 12-4 lead.
• The Eagles threatened to climb back into the set, but never cut the deficit to less than seven from that point on as Fyda put down a kill to give the Ducks a 25-16 win and a 2-0 advantage in the match.
• Having dropped five consecutive sets, Eastern did not cave in the final stanza as they took a 7-6 lead early and did not trail again until Stevens scored three straight to take a 14-13 edge.
• Tied at 17, the Ducks used a Van Arsdale kill, a Fyda service ace and a Lancia kill to take a 21-17 lead in the set.
• After Eastern cut the deficit to two at 23-21, Stevens did not waste any more time as they scored the final two points on a Bickford kill and, fittingly, a Varseveld and Fyda block to win 25-21 and sweep the doubleheader.

Inside the Numbers

• After hitting just .207 in the first match, the Ducks stepped up their offensive attack in the second with a .303 attack percentage.
• Despite producing a .323 hitting percentage in the opening set, Eastern hit just .169 in the match thanks to a .000 percentage in the second.
• The advantage at the net belonged to Stevens once again with the Ducks holding an 8-4 edge in blocks.
• Bickford's 13 kills matched his career-high he set in the 2021 season opener against Misericordia.
• Fyda narrowly missed out on a double-double as he finished with 10 digs and nine kills while hitting .389.
• Moran ran the offense extremely well in the match with 35 assists while also producing six digs.

Unsung Hero

• Across two matches, Varseveld produced nine total blocks and five kills while hitting .444. He had four blocks in the opening match and followed it up with a four-kill, five-block effort in match two.

From the Sidelines (Head Coach Dan Buehring)

• "Our guys worked hard to focus in on a few key areas we needed to improve to win two tonight. We have a very capable group growing into themselves and tonight I think the started to see their abilities a little clearer. I was happy to see them getting better at the right things out there tonight."

Next Up

• The Ducks return to the court Saturday with another road match in Pennsylvania, this time in Chester, Pa. against Widener University.
• The doubleheader will begin at 12:00 p.m. and it is believed to be the first matchup between the two teams.
• Live stats and video will be available on StevensDucks.com.

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