HOBOKEN, N.J. (October 25, 2022)  – Senior Riley Koehler recorded a career-high 14 kills as the Stevens Institute of Technology women's volleyball team swept Delaware Valley University (25-20, 25-14, 25-22) Tuesday night in a MAC Freedom matchup at Canavan Arena.

Senior Ava Smithing matched a season high with seven kills and junior Meghan Elder matched a career high with four kills, while also adding a career-high five blocks for the Ducks, who improved to 19-9 on the year and a perfect 7-0 in league play. With one more conference match on the slate, the Ducks need a victory over Arcadia Thursday evening in Pennsylvania to clinch their second MAC Freedom regular-season title. The Ducks have won their last eight conference regular-season matches.

Olivia Deffendall had seven kills and Gretta Schneider had six kills and three blocks to lead Delaware Valley, who dropped to 11-10 on the year and to 1-6 in league play. Stevens has swept Delaware Valley in each of the three all-time meetings.

Prior to the match, Stevens honored Koehler and Smithing, along with classmates Karen Xu and Enkhsanaa Enkhbayar in a pre-match ceremony.

Koehler set the tone from the opening set. The Clinton, New Jersey native set down five kills on seven swings without an error in the first set, added four more in the second and another five in the final set to easily surpass her previous career high. Koehler also added one block in leading the offense in her first career start.

The Ducks scored the first three points of the match on consecutive kills from Smithing and sophomore Parker Adkins, which preceded an Adkins ace. Delaware Valley got on the board after an attack error and eventually took the lead at 7-6 after an ace and another attack error. However, the Ducks broke the set open with a 10-1 run that was punctuated by two blocks from Elder and Xu and one from Koehler and Elder. 

The Aggies used a 5-3 run to trim the Ducks' lead to four, but Adkins set down a pass from graduate student Kathleen Riegner to take the opening set.

Although Stevens notched the first point of the second set, Delaware Valley turned a pair of Stevens errors into its largest lead of the match at 3-1. However, Stevens responded with a 6-1 run only to see the Aggies reel off three straight points to draw the teams even at seven.

Stevens went in front for good with a 4-0 run, with Elder notching two kills and Riegner serving up an ace. A 5-0 run pushed the Ducks' lead to 16-9 and Stevens scored seven of the final nine points to claim the set.

The final set saw the Ducks jump in front early on a kill by sophomore Cleo Shannon, which opened the scoring in the final set. The Charlotte, North Carolina native served up her lone ace of the match to cap a 4-0 run to open the third set. Delaware Valley would chip away at the Ducks' lead and draw even on two separate occasions, but a 9-1 run in the middle of the set pushed the Ducks' advantage to 20-12. 

A late surge by the Aggies trimmed the lead down to just one point, but Riegner knocked down a pass from sophomore Bailey Axelrad to return the serve to Stevens. First-year Vivian Lisboa paired with Xu to block a Delaware Valley attack to bring Stevens to match point and a ball-handling error cemented the sweep.

Inside the Numbers

• Stevens hit a dominating .310 in the opening set, while holding the Aggies under .100. For the match, Delaware Valley finished with a .034 hitting percentage - the 12th time this season that the Ducks have held an opponent under .100.
• The Ducks held an 8-4 advantage in blocks, a 10-6 edge in aces and a 44-33 margin in digs.
• Ten different players recorded at least one kill for Stevens, including Adkins and junior Liz Patterson, who each played one set.
• Axelrad finished with a match-high 17 digs. The New Orleans, Louisiana native continues to lead the MAC Freedom with 5.01 digs per set.
• Xu came off the bench to total three kills and three blocks to set new career highs in each statistic. The Short Hills, New Jersey native joined the varsity program after three seasons on the club program.

Unsung Hero

• Lisboa filled the stat sheet with three kills, three aces, three blocks and a pair of digs. The three aces were a career high.

From the Sidelines - Head Coach Brianna Jones

• "Love this conference run that we're on and I loved this win!!"
• "These four seniors are remarkable and will leave a legacy of competitive, passionate and selfless energy. I am so happy that we could honor them tonight."

Up Next

• Women's volleyball heads to Glenside, Pennsylvania on Oct. 27 to take on Arcadia in the MAC Freedom regular season finale. 
• The Ducks have won all four prior meetings with the Knights. The teams will be meeting in the Keystone State for the first time.
• A victory by the Ducks also clinches the program's ninth straight season with at least 20 wins.
• Links for live stats and video are available on StevensDucks.com.

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