HOOBKEN, N.J. (April 2, 2021) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team hit .364 across six sets and closed out the regular season with a pair of 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-18 and 25-22, 25-22, 25-15) victories over Arcadia inside Canavan Arena Friday afternoon to move into third place in the Middle Atlantic Conference standings.

The Ducks hit over .340 in four of the six sets on the day and totaled 17 total blocks to push their winning streak to nine straight matches and close the regular season with a 10-3 record.

Reigning American Volleyball Coaches Association National Player of the Week Nathan Lancia led the way for Stevens in the first contest with 11 kills while hitting .368 with three blocks. In match number two, Jack Fyda was phenomenal with 13 kills on just 22 swings while not committing a single error to hit .591.

Percy Bickford also did his part in both matches with eight kills in the first and nine in the second with four total blocks across both contests.

The Ducks will now await Saturday's MAC results to determine where they finish in the conference standings as they head into postseason play. Stevens cannot finish worse than third in the MAC pecking order.

Volleys and Points (Match One)

• The Ducks got off to a fast start in the opening set of the day, using a 5-0 run that featured kills from Fyda and Lancia as well as a Louden Moran service ace and a Stedman van Arsdale and Fyda double block.
• Arcadia began to mount a comeback trailing 16-8 with a 5-1 run to cut the deficit to four at 17-13.
• Stevens took advantage of some Knight mistakes down the stretch, however, as they scored five of its eight final points of the set via Arcadia errors, four of which came on the service line, to win 25-21.
• It was the Knights who started the second set off hot as they scored six of the first seven points of the stanza to take an early 6-1 lead.
• The Ducks were able to steady the tide and climb back to within two at 7-5 thanks to a Lancia kill and service ace on back-to-back points.
• Trailing 9-6, Stevens was able to take its first lead of the set with a 5-1 run after two kills from Fyda, one from Lancia and a Lancia/van Arsdale double block.
• With the score 12-11 in favor of the Ducks, Arcadia went on a 4-0 run to re-take the lead by three.
• Stevens was no to be denied, however, as Chris Varseveld went to the service line and put down an ace to start a 4-0 run of their own to give the Ducks an 18-17 edge.
• After Arcadia grabbed back the lead at 20-19, Stevens used two Fyda service aces and a pair of double blocks from Lancia and Van Arsdale to score the final five points of the set and win 25-20.
• Early in the third set, the Ducks scored six of seven points thanks in part to kills from Fyda and Bickford to take a 7-3 lead.
• The Knights clawed their way back into the set to tie things up at 10, but van Arsdale did not allow them to gain the lead as he put down three service aces as a part of seven consecutive points to give the Ducks a 17-10 lead.
• Leading 23-18, Stevens got a kill from van Arsdale as well as a Moran service ace to win 25-18 and sweep the match.

Inside the Numbers (Match One)

• Much like a few Ducks on the day, Varseveld was extremely efficient with six kills on nine swings with just one error to hit .556.
• Moran produced 32 total assists in the contest while adding a pair of service aces and three digs.
• A big discrepancy in the match came at the service line as Stevens had nine aces with just eight service errors while Arcadia had just two aces and 14 errors.
• Michael Snajder led the way for the Ducks with six digs in the contest while Bickford and Lancia added four apiece.
• Stevens hit .319 in the match and .393 in the decisive third set while holding the Knights to .253 in the contest.
• van Arsdale only had two kills in the match, but also led the Ducks with four blocks and three aces.

Volleys and Points (Match Two)

• Much like in the first match, the Ducks used a fast start to get out to an early lead as a 4-0 run that featured a Van Arsdale ace and kill as well as a pair of blocks by Bickford and Varseveld/Lancia made the score 4-2.
• Tied at six, Stevens again took advantage of some mistakes by Arcadia as four errors led to a 6-2 run to give the Ducks a 12-8 lead.
• The Knights climbed back within two at 16-14, but a Fyda kill and a van Arsdale and Moran double block led to a quick 3-0 run to extend the lead back to five.
• The two teams then traded three straight 3-0 runs to make the score 22-20 late in the set.
• Bickford and Lancia put an end to the set as they both put down kills to score the final two points of the set to win 25-22.
• Trading points back-and-forth to open the second set, Stevens created some breathing room by rattling off seven straight points thanks to Bickford (two kills, one block) and van Arsdale (one kill, one block) as the duo combined for four of the seven points.  
• Leading 15-7, the Ducks were able to hold off a late Arcadia rally as Bickford put down the final three points of the set, all on kills to win their second straight set by a 25-22 score.
• The third set of the second match was possibly the most dominant of the day for Stevens and it started from the jump as the Ducks used a 7-0 run by taking advantage of five Arcadia errors to lead 9-3.
• Leading 15-7, Stevens extended the lead to 12 after four straight points that featured a Van Arsdale kill, blocks from Lancia/Varseveld and Bickford and another van Arsdale service ace.
• The Knights were able to cut the deficit to nine at 24-15, but Fyda completed the sweep as he put down his 13th kill of the set to win 25-15.

Inside the Numbers (Match Two)

• Fyda now has double-digit kills in seven matches this season, including three of his last six appearances.
• Stevens hit a whopping .405 in the match, the second-highest total in a single match this season, while holding Arcadia to .076.
• The Ducks put down 40 kills in just three sets for just the third time this season.
• In the nine-match win streak, Stevens has earned sweeps in seven of those contests and has not gone to a fifth set in any of them.
• The effort at the service line was reversed in the second match as Arcadia held a 7-3 edge in aces.
• A big difference in the match came at the net as the Ducks held a 12-4 edge in total blocks, led by six from Varseveld and five by Lancia.
• The seven kills from Lancia snaps a five-match streak with double-digit kills.
• Stevens was able to side-out at a 65 percent clip in the match while the Knights only did so at 51.4 percent.

Unsung Hero

• van Arsdale was all over the court in both matches as he totaled eight kills, five aces and eight blocks across two matches. The junior committed just one error on the day and hit .538 on 13 total swings.

From the Sidelines (Head Coach Dan Buehring)

• "We had a plan we believed in and just worked each set, point-by-point. I think the team should be proud of their effort and preparation this week leading up to day. We are excited to test our stuff in the MAC Tournament next week to see if we can rise to the challenge with so many great teams in the conference."

Next Up

• The Ducks now await their fate in the conference tournament as they can finish no lower than the #3 seed.
• Stevens will play on Wednesday in the MAC semifinals and will host if they can attain the #2 seed by virtue of losses from either Stevenson University or Messiah University.
• Live stats and video for the semis will be available on StevensDucks.com.

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