SWARTHMORE, Pa. (Sept. 10, 2021) – In the first four set match of the season for the Stevens women's volleyball team, the Ducks proverbially "aced" the task handed to them as they set a new season high with 15 service aces en route to a 3-1 victory over Swarthmore College Friday in the Garnet Quad Tournament.

First-year Parker Adkins was spectacular in the win finishing in double figures in kills for the first time in her career with a team-high 13 while also adding eight digs and three aces in the 25-22, 20-25, 25-12, 25-17 victory.

Another first-year was also a menace at the service line with Nicole Scribner putting down five aces to lead the way. In fact, Scribner finished the contest with more aces than Swarthmore's entire team had (3).

It was also a solid night offensively for sophomore Liz Patterson who joined Adkins in double-digit kills with 10 of her own while registering a .211 attack percentage.

Swarthmore, meanwhile, gave the Ducks their toughest test of the season thanks in large part to a stellar set number two where they held Stevens to a season-low -.103 attack percentage while hitting .176 on their side of the net. They were led offensively by Kaylee Zhang who racked up 10 kills on 22 swings in the loss.

The Garnet were the first team to take a set off the Ducks this season with the 25-20 win in the second stanza. The 13 consecutive set wins were the most for the Ducks since winning 16 straight from Sept. 16-23 in the 2017 season.

Volleys and Points

• The opening set proved to be a tight one throughout as evidence by neither team leading by more than two through the first 22 total points of the set.
• The Ducks were the first to create some separation, using a 5-1 run that featured kills from Patterson and Adkins was well as an ace from sophomore Ava Smithing after the score was tied 9-9 to take a 14-10 lead.
• The Garnet bounced back immediately, however, with three straight points of their own thanks to three Stevens errors to cut the deficit to one.
• On top 16-15, the Ducks again looked like they would pull away after sophomore Megan Dion found the court with a kill and an ace as a part of a 4-1 run to push the edge back up to four.
• It looked as if Stevens might waltz to a relatively easy set win in the first up 23-18, but the Garnet made another comeback, this time with four consecutive points to climb back to within one at 23-22.
• Ultimately, the Ducks were able to pull out the win 25-22 after taking advantage of back-to-back Garnet errors to close things out.
• The second set was all Swarthmore from the jump with the Garnet using an 8-0 run fueled by seven Stevens errors to take an 11-3 lead.
• The Ducks were able to respond with a 5-0 flurry of their own after sophomore Madison Sappia found the court with three consecutive aces to make the score 11-8.
• The Garnet were able to extend the advantage back out to seven at 17-10 after a 5-1 run thanks in large part to four Duck miscues.
• Stevens chipped away at the deficit for the remainder of the set but could not get closer than three before ultimately falling 25-20.
• The third set started very similarly to the second, except this time it was Stevens getting out to an early lead.
• In a huge run that saw two aces from senior Elizabeth Chu, another ace by Scribner and kills from Adkins (2), Patterson (2), Dion and Maggio, the Ducks scored 15 of the first 18 points in the set to take command.
• The Garnet managed to climb into double figures and back within eight at 19-11, but Stevens made sure it got no closer by closing things out on a 5-1 run.
• In the rally, Stevens got three more aces by Scribner, two kills from Dion and another by Patterson to win 25-12.
• While the second and third sets started with one team playing with an early cushion, the fourth looked more like the first as the two teams jostled for position with a lead of now larger than three by either side.
• Trailing 12-11, the Ducks made the first run of the fourth and final set, this one to the tune of 6-1 highlighted by two Patterson kills, another kill by Smithing and a Chu ace.
• On top with some breathing room at 19-16, Stevens put things away in impressive fashion by winning six of the last seven points thanks to two Smithing kills and one apiece by Adkins and Riegner to win 25-17 and take the match 3-1.

Match Point

• Riegner, who is averaging 1.00 kill per set this season, produced her third kill of the night on an assist by Chu to put things away and send the Ducks to their fifth straight win to open the 2021 season.

Inside the Numbers

• The Garnet were more efficient at the point of attack in the contest with a .129 attack percentage compared to .127 for Stevens.
• The largest edge came at the service line with the Ducks putting down 15 aces compared to three for Swarthmore.
• Furthermore, the two teams finished with the same number of service errors (nine) in the contest.
• Chu nearly finished the match with a double-double as she produced a team-high 17 digs and added eight assists and three aces.
• The other senior of the squad, Riegner, distributed the offense effectively with 27 assists to six different teammates in the contest.
• Stevens put down 49 kills in the match while Swarthmore had only 29 with 13 of those coming in the initial set.
• The Ducks 5-0 start is the best since the 2013 season when Stevens started 12-0.

Unsung Hero

• The most efficient attacker of the night for Stevens, Smithing had seven kills on just 15 swings with three assists, an ace and a dig.

From the Sidelines (Head Coach Brianna Jones)

• "I loved our fight as a team tonight. After taking our first set loss of the year, I thought our team and our captains did a great job of keeping everyone together and fighting. Each person on our squad contributed in some way tonight."

Next Up

• The Garnet Quad continues Saturday with Stevens taking on Lebanon Valley College at 12:00 p.m. and Marymount University at 2:00 p.m.
• The Ducks are 2-1 all-time against LVC and took home a 3-0 sweep of the Dutchmen back in the 2019 season the last time they faced off.
• It is believed to be the first matchup between Stevens and Marymount in the history of the two programs.
• Live stats and video will be available on StevensDucks.com.

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