POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (February 19, 2022)  – First-year Tyler Christensen totaled 17 kills over two matches and classmate Kody Sherman set down 19 as No. 4 Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball split with No. 2 Vassar College and Ramapo College Saturday in a non-conference tri-match hosted by the Brewers at Kenyon Hall. 

Junior Connor Feulner totaled five blocks for the Ducks and junior Louden Moran recorded 18 digs for the Ducks, who swept Ramapo (25-18, 25-14, 25-21) before falling to the second-ranked Brewers in four sets (16-25, 29-27, 23-25, 20-25). The tri-match split left the Ducks with an 11-3 record.

Andrew Finegan set down nine fills against Stevens to lead Ramapo, who fell to Vassar in three sets to conclude the day 6-7 on the year. Andrew Kim had 14 kills to pace Vassar's performance against Stevens as the Brewers won their sixth straight contest to move to 6-0. The Ducks have won each of the last eight meetings with Ramapo, including five sweeps, while the Brewers' victory snapped Stevens' four-match winning streak in the series.

The Ducks strung together the first run of the match, scoring three straight points on two errors and a Sherman kill to take a 3-1 lead in the opening set. Ramapo would put together its first run of the match with three straight points to grab an 8-7 lead. Stevens would finally jump in front for good in the opening frame, going on a 5-1 run to take a 19-15 lead. Junior Chris Varseveld would notch a pair of kills as the Ducks scored four of the final five points to claim the opening frame.

Varseveld knocked down a Moran set to open scoring in the second frame, but Ramapo rallied on a pair of Duck errors to grab an early 2-1 lead. Stevens grabbed control of the frame, going on a 9-1 run to create separation between the teams. Sherman had a pair of kills during the sequence and Christensen served up a pair of aces. Ramapo clawed back into the frame with a Jason van der Wilt kill and a double block of a Christenen attack to pull within 15-10, but the Ducks went on another lengthy run to open a 22-10 lead. Sherman had three aces during the stretch and Christensen recorded three kills. Stevens closed out the frame after a Ramapo service error. 

The Ducks opened the third set by scoring the first three points, with Sherman and graduate student Jack Fyda knocking down Moran sets. Moran finished with 34 assists in the opening match and added 31 in the second match. Ramapo would open its largest lead of the match at 8-5 only for the Ducks to respond with an 8-1 run to open a 13-9 lead and force a Roadrunner timeout.

Following the timeout, Ramapo responded with a run of its own to draw the teams even at 18. However, an attack error return serve to the Ducks and Fyda knocked down a Moran set to give Stevens a 20-18 lead. Feulner and Fyda twice registered consecutive kills to bring Stevens to match point and a service error closed out the sweep.

Interestingly enough, Stevens scored first in each of the four sets. A bad set and a Sherman kill gave the Ducks a 2-0 lead in the opening frame and the teams would exchange points until Vassar went on the first extended run of the match, scoring five straight to take a 9-6 lead. The Ducks would rally to tie the frame at nine, but a second lengthy run gave the Brewers a 13-9 advantage. Vassar would string together a 5-1 run to push its lead to 20-13 and would score four of the final five points to close out the set.

After Moran reversed roles and set down a Christensen set, Vassar jumped in front with four straight points. The Ducks would play from behind throughout the second set, trailing by as many as five, before rallying. Stevens totaled 18 kills in the second set, the most by the team in any of the seven sets on the afternoon. Four different players recorded a point during a 5-0 run that forced a Vassar timeout and brought Stevens within 22-21. The Ducks would finally draw even at 23 to force a second Vassar timeout. Stevens would fight off three set points before Sherman knocked down a Moran set and then Vassar's Gavin van Beveren mistimed a block for a blocking error to hand Stevens the second set and even the match.

A service error put Stevens on the board first, but Vassar took advantage of a pair of errors to jump in front 4-2. The Brewers would push their lead to six to force a Stevens timeout, but the Ducks would respond with a 5-1 run out of the timeout to move within two and then raced in front with a 9-1 one to take an 18-14 lead. Vassar's errors helped power the Duck run and Feulner and Moran served us aces to fire up the offense.

Fyda deposited a Moran set into the middle of the Vassar defense to give the Ducks a 19-15 advantage, but the Brewers responded four straight points to tie the score at 19 and force a Stevens timeout. A double block by Fyda and Feulner tied the frame at 23, but a service error and an ace gave the home team the second set.

Looking to force a deciding fifth set, the Ducks responded by scoring four of the first five points in the frame, with Sherman serving an ace to begin the scoring and Feulner knocking down a Moran set to give Stevens a 5-1 lead. Vassar tied the frame at seven and the teams remained in a tight battle, with neither side able to string together more than two points through the middle portion of the contest.

Vassar created a little cushion with three straight points to open an 18-15 lead and would score three of the final four points to close out the match.

Inside the Numbers

• Stevens hit over .300 in each of the three sets against the Roadrunners. The Ducks swung an impressive .486 (18-1-35) in the second set against Vassar, which was the top mark by either team in the match.
• After getting outblocked in the first match of the day, Stevens responded with nine blocks against Vassar, while the Brewers had just five.
• Vassar totaled 12 aces against Stevens. The Ducks had eight against Ramapo and three against the Brewers.
• Moran turned in his second double-double of the season against Vassar, dishing out 31 assists and amassing a career-high 14 digs. Moran's 14 digs are tied for the fifth-most in a Middle Atlantic Conference contest this season.
• First-year Jesse Knuckles totaled 12 digs on the day and ranks fourth in the conference with 2.17 digs per set.

Unsung Hero

• Varseveld turned in an efficient 7-1-9 (0.667 hitting percentage) against Ramapo. He finished the day 3-0-10 against Vassar to total 10 kills on 19 swings with just one error (0.473) over the two matches.

Up Next

• Men's Volleyball heads to Brooklyn, New York for another top-10 showdown, this time with No. 10 NYU on Feb. 23.
• Formerly annual opponents in the United Volleyball Conference, the teams have met 21 times since 2010, with Stevens winning 12 of the matches. Since 2002, Stevens is 18-15 against the Violets.
• After needing a fifth set six times in seven meetings between 2016 and 2018, the teams have split the next four matches in four sets or less.
• Links for live stats and video are available on StevensDucks.com.

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