HAVERFORD, Pa. (Sept. 25, 2021) – Much as they have all season, the Stevens Institute of Technology women's volleyball team rode stellar defensive play and got solid offensive production from a bevy of options to finish the Haverford Tri-Match with a pair of victories Saturday, defeating McDaniel College 3-1 before sweeping host Haverford College 3-0.

The Ducks, who now rank 16th in all of NCAA Division III in opposing hitting percentage, held both opponents under a .120 attack percentage and racked up 16 blocks to improve their record to 12-2 on the season.

Senior Elizabeth Chu led Stevens defensively in both matches with 17 digs in the first contest and followed it up with 15 in the second. Her 5.20 digs per set ranks second in the MAC Freedom and inside the top-50 in all of DIII.

Offensively, first-year Parker Adkins was solid throughout the day as she registered a double-double in the first matchup with 11 kills and 13 digs and followed it up by setting a career-high with six service aces to go along with 13 digs in the second matchup.

Junior Ava Smithing and sophomore Elle Maggio joined Adkins in double figures in kills in the first matchup with 10 apiece. It was the second time this season Smithing reached the 10-kill mark as she was extremely efficient with just one error on 16 swings for a .563 attack percentage.

Stevens opened the day by dropping the opening set against McDaniel 25-21 and promptly responded by taking each of the next six sets of the day, starting with a 25-14, 25-21, 25-22 victory over the Green Terror and concluding with a tidy 25-21, 25-20, 25-17 sweep of the Fords.

The Ducks are now 4-0 away from home and 3-0 in neutral site matchups this season as these contests away from Hoboken started a string of 10 consecutive road contests from Sept. 25 through Oct. 20.

Volleys and Points (Match One)

• The two teams were fairly evenly matched to start the opening set, going back-and-forth with neither team leading by more than two points halfway through the stanza.
• On top 18-17, the Green Terror became the first team to seize the momentum as they went on a 5-1 run fueled by four Stevens errors to move ahead 23-18.
• The Ducks were able to respond with three straight points of their own to cut the deficit to two but could not get any closer as McDaniel got a kill from Maddy Bigley to end the set and win 25-21.
• The second set looked nothing like the first as Stevens came out firing on all cylinders with a 7-1 run that featured a Chu service ace, a Smithing kill and five McDaniel errors to open things up.
• Leading 9-5, the Ducks extended the lead again when a Liz Patterson service ace capped off a run of three straight points to push the score to 12-5.
• After the Green Terror were able to cut the deficit back to three at 12-9, Stevens put the set away at the service line as Megan Dion found the court with back-to-back aces and Kathleen Riegner added another all as a part of an 8-1 run to put the game out of reach.
• Leading 24-14, Dion closed out the set with a bang as she put down her second kill of the match to tie things 1-1.
• The third set saw McDaniel race out to an early 6-2 lead thanks in large part to kill by Anna Jezerski.
• Trailing 7-4, Stevens made their move as they won nine of the next 10 points to lead 13-8.
• The 9-1 run featured a pair of kills by Smithing and another from first-year Cleo Shannon.
• The Green Terror cut the deficit down to one at 14-13 thanks to two more kills by Jezerski, prompting the Ducks to turn to Smithing for a kill and a block on back-to-back points to push the lead back to four.
• McDaniel was able to make things interesting down the stretch, climbing back within one a few times.
• Ultimately, however, Stevens grabbed four of the final five points of the set after two kills from Adkins to win 25-21 and take a 2-1 lead in sets.
• The fourth and final set looked similar to the first with neither team creating separation early.
• The Ducks got their offensive weapons involved in a big way halfway through the set as Adkins, Maggio, Smithing and Patterson all contributed kill to an 8-2 run that gave Stevens a 16-12 advantage.
• Three straight Green Terror errors gave Stevens what looked to be an insurmountable lead at 20-14, but McDaniel battled back as they had all night with six consecutive points to tie things up at 20-20.
• The Ducks kept their composure, however, getting a dump kill from Enkhsanaa Enkhbayar, a Patterson ace and back-to-back big kills from Adkins to seal the 3-1 win.

Match Point (Match One)

• Adkins, who had just reached double figures in kills two points prior, ensured she would be the top point-scorer in the match for the Ducks as she put down her 11th kill to finish things off.

Inside the Numbers (Match One)

• Stevens held a huge 7-2 edge in blocks thanks to four by Dion and three more from Smithing.
• Dion now leads the MAC Freedom in both total blocks (33) and blocks per set (0.87).
• Riegner and Enkhbayar shared the setting duties once again for Stevens with Riegner leading the way with 21 assists and Enkhbayar producing 20.
• Just behind the three in double figures, Patterson and Shannon both had eight kills in the victory as Patterson nearly produced her first career double-double with a season-best 15 digs.
• Stevens narrowly held the edge at the service line with eight aces compared to seven for the Green Terror.
• The Ducks held McDaniel to a .111 attack percentage and held them to .000 in the second set and .088 in the decisive fourth.
• Jezerski finished with a match-high 19 kills on 44 total swings for a .250 attack percentage.
• It was the first time this season Stevens had three student-athletes with at least 10 digs (Chu, Patterson and Adkins).
• With a .563 attack percentage in the match, Smithing now ranks fifth in the MAC Freedom with a .275 attack percentage on the year.

Volleys and Points (Match Two)

• Stevens started things out by scoring five of the first six points thanks to kills from Dion and Patterson as well as a double block by Dion and Shannon.
• With the score 10-5 in favor of the Ducks, Haverford rattled off four consecutive points capped off by back-to-back kills from Dina Kosyagin to cut the deficit down to one.
• Leading 12-11, Stevens was able to create some separation with a 6-1 run that featured aces from both Adkins and Chu as well as kills from Maggio and Smithing to lead 18-12.
• The Fords climbed back within two at 22-20, but could not come any closer as Smithing and Maggio gave the Ducks three of the last four points to win 25-21.
• Led by two more kills from Kosyagin, Haverford jumped ahead early in the second set with a 4-0 run.
• Adkins made sure the Ducks had a counterpunch, however, as she found the court with a kill and a pair of service aces as a part of a 5-0 run to give Stevens the lead at 5-4.
• Tied at 5-5, it was Chu's turn to do damage at the service line as she put down three consecutive aces in a 4-0 flurry to push the lead to 9-5.
• Haverford was unable to get back within striking distance again until Kosyagin took the match into her own hands with three kills in a 4-0 run to bring the score to 16-15 halfway through the set.
• Stevens responded immediately with a 6-0 run featuring two more aces by Adkins to re-extend the edge to 22-15.
• The Fords threatened again with five consecutive points of their own, but Maggio teamed up with Chu to win the final three rallies and give the Ducks a 25-20 win and a 2-0 advantage.
• After going back-and-forth early in the third set, Stevens was the first to create separation with a 4-0 run that saw kills by Maggio, Patterson and even Chu to lead 15-10.
• Up 19-13, the Ducks reached match point with a 6-2 run thanks to two Shannon kills, a Smithing kill and another Adkins ace.
• Haverford staved off a pair of match points, but could not hold off a third as Maggio found the court to seal the sweep 25-17.

Match Point (Match Two)

• On her 21st swing of the night, Maggio was able to fire a shot through the defense and find the court for her seventh kill to finish the 3-0 win.

Inside the Numbers (Match Two)

• Stevens has now earned a sweep in nine of the 12 matches it has won this season.
• The Ducks held Haverford to an .098 attack percentage in the contest while hitting .224 themselves.
• For the first time this season, Stevens did not have the upper hand in kills as the Fords held the edge 39-33.
• Stevens put down 12 service aces to reach double figures in aces for the seventh time this season. The Ducks had double-digit aces just 10 times in the 2019 season.
• Maggio led the team with seven kills while Shannon and Patterson added six each.
• Along with Adkins' six aces, Chu also had a solid night at the service line with five of her own. Chu now ranks second in the MAC Freedom with 0.68 aces per set.
• Smithing finished with five blocks in the match while Maggio and Dion added three apiece.
• Adkins was just behind Chu in digs with 13 and has now reached double figures in digs in each of her last three appearances.

Unsung Hero (Both Matches)

• She finished with just eight kills on the day, but Dion was active all over the court for the Ducks. The sophomore from West Chester, Pa., totaled seven blocks, three aces and two assists on the day while hitting .363 with no errors.

From the Sidelines (Head Coach Brianna Jones)

• "I loved our consistency today. I thought we played hard throughout the day and had a ton of fun. Overall, it was a great day of volleyball."

Next Up

• Stevens returns to MAC Freedom competition Tuesday as they take on Delaware Valley University at 7:00 p.m. in a road contest at Gwynedd Mercy University.
• The Ducks swept the lone matchup between these two teams in 2019 in Hoboken.
• Live stats and video will be available on StevensDucks.com.

Facebook: "Like" Stevens Athletics         
Twitter: @stevensducks
Instagram: @stevensducks
#AllRise