HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 11, 2022) – Fresh off the program's first-ever Middle Atlantic Conference Championship, No. 4 Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball will host Endicott College Friday in a 2022 Division III Men's Volleyball Tournament first-round match at Canavan Arena, the NCAA announced Monday.
The Ducks were selected as one of four site hosts, joining No. 1 Springfield, No. 3 Carthage and No. 5 Rutgers-Newark. Stevens will be making its eighth appearance in the NCAA Tournament, second-most among all Division III programs behind just Springfield. The Ducks will be serving as a site host for the fourth time and first since 2019.
"We are happy to be at home against a tough Endicott team," head coach
Dan Buehring said. "We expect a good battle with a strong team and will be working all week to prepare to meet the challenge. I think we will need to find our best to punch a ticket to Kenosha out of this weekend, starting with Endicott on Friday."
Endicott won its third straight, and eighth overall, New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) championship with a 3-1 victory over Nichols College on Apr. 9. Rafa Robert was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player after totaling 15 kills on a .310 attack percentage, while also totaling four blocks and three digs. The Gulls enter the tournament 18-6 on the year with a perfect 6-0 mark in NECC play, and on a three-match winning streak.
Stevens enters the match on one of the nation's longest winning streaks. The Ducks have won 17 straight matches after sweeping No. 13 Messiah in the MAC Championship. First-year
Koby Sherman was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player after totaling 43 kills over two matches, hitting .451 in the process. Stevens will be looking to win an least one match in the national tournament for the seventh time in program history. The Ducks and the Gulls matched in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament, with Stevens coming away with a 3-1 victory behind a career-high 20 kills from then-senior Ian Bennett. Stevens has faced Endicott 14 times since 2003 and holds a 13-1 advantage in the all-time series, although the Gulls posted a thrilling 3-2 victory on Feb. 23, 2020 in the last meeting between the programs.
On the other side of the bracket, No. 7 Southern Virginia University will host St. Joseph's College of Long Island in Friday's second match. Southern Virginia received one of the four Pool C (at-large) selections after the Knights fell to Rutgers-Newark in the Continental Volleyball Conference Championship match. Southern Virginia will be making its third trip to the NCAA Tournament (and second straight). The Knights' inaugural NCAA appearance came in 2019, when they fell to Wells College in a regional hosted by Stevens at Canavan Arena. Stevens has won both prior meetings with Southern Virginia.
St. Joseph's enters its third NCAA tournament riding a 13-match winning streak after scoring a hard-fought, five-set victory over New Jersey City University in the Skyline Conference Championship. Clint Johnson was named the Skyline Tournament's Most Outstanding Player honors after totaling 52 assists and 13 digs in the championship victory over the Gothic Knights. The Ducks swept the Golden Eagles on Jan. 15 in a season-opening tri-match at Canavan Arena and have won all four meetings between the teams. Friday's contest between Southern Virginia and St. Joseph's is believed to be the first meeting between the teams.
The winners of Friday's first-round matches will meet Saturday in a quarterfinal match. The winner of the Hoboken Regional will advance to next weekend's national semifinals in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
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