NEW PALTZ, N.Y. (February 4, 2023) – Sophomore Koby Sherman had 17 kills and four blocks as No. 1 Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball rallied to defeat No. 7 SUNY New Paltz in four sets (17-25, 25-18, 26-24, 25-19) Saturday as part of a tri-match at the Hawk Center. 

Senior Percy Bickford and classmate Nathan Lancia each had 10 kills as Stevens swept Wentworth Institute of Technology (25-17, 25-23, 25-23) to wrap up the tri-match and improve to 11-1. The Ducks have won eight straight.

Pat Wing had 14 kills and Brendan Spulnick finished with 13 kills and six aces to lead New Paltz, who pulled a reverse sweep of Wentworth to wrap up the day 6-3. Stevens has won the last three matchups with the Hawks and moved to 26-12 against New Paltz since 2003.

Jacob LaBouliere had 10 kills and three aces to lead Wentworth's efforts against the Ducks, who dropped a pair of matches on the day in falling to 4-6. The Ducks have won all three all-time meetings with the Leopards, although Saturday's match was the first between the teams since 2017 and just the second since 2004.

It was New Paltz that came out and won the opening set, hitting .316 with eight aces. The hosting Hawks were able to score four of the first six points to take an early lead, with the Ducks' first point coming off a double block from Sherman and senior Connor Feulner. After taking the early lead, New Paltz five unanswered to take a 16-9 lead and pushed the lead to 10 after an A.J. Fitzgerald ace. The Ducks rallied three straight, punctuated by an ace from senior Christoper Varseveld, but Spulnick set down a Kyle Shaffer pace to close out the opening set. 

Stevens wasted little time jumping in front in the second set, with Sherman knocking down a pair of sets from senior Louden Moran, which was followed by a Moran ace. Moran matched a season-high with 41 assists against New Paltz and capped his day by dishing out 31 against Wentworth.

After taking the lead, Stevens reeled off four straight points to take a 9-3 lead. The Ducks maintained their lead throughout the remainder of the set, closing it out on a Bickford kill and an attack error. Stevens committed a total of eight errors in the set, while New Paltz had 14.

The third set was the most back-and-forth of the four sets as the teams combined for five ties and four lead changes. New Paltz scored four of the first six points to take an early lead and the Ducks took their first lead as part of a 5-0 run that saw three kills from Sherman and Bickford and a pair of Wing errors. Stevens would go on another run that pushed the lead to 17-12 and a Bickford ace moved the advantage to 23-20. However, New Paltz answered with four straight points that brought the Hawks to set point, but Moran fed Sherman for a kill that tied the score at 24 and a Varseveld ace and a Feulner kill closed out the set.

Similar to the second set, the final set saw Stevens jump in front from the opening point and never look back. Varseveld set down a Moran pass to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead and the Ducks took full control of the frame with a 4-0 run, which was powered by a kill and block by first-year Phillip Bone, to take a 10-5 lead. New Paltz pulled to within three on a few occasions, but a blocking error by John Ronan and double block by Varseveld and Sherman pushed the lead back to a comfortable margin. Bickford set down another Moran set to close out the come-from-behind victory.

In the final match of the day, although Wentworth scored the first point of the match, the Ducks jumped in front by scoring five of the next six points, with Bickford and Lancia combining for three of the five. After taking the early lead, the Ducks never looked back, opening as much as six-point lead after an ace from Varseveld and an attack error. The Ducks would hit nearly .300 in the opening set and pushed their lead to 24-16 on a massive solo block from Feulner and closed out the frame courtesy of a service error. 

The final two sets provided a significant amount of back-and-forth action. In the second set, the teams combined for 12 ties and five lead changes and in the final set, they combined for 18 ties and eight lead changes. 

The Ducks hit a match-high .350 in the second set, committing just two attack errors, while Wentworth finished the set with a combined 16 errors. The Ducks rallied from an early 6-2 hole and took a 2-0 lead in the match by scoring four of the final points, including a solo block from Bickford in his only rejection of the match.

The final set saw neither team string together more than two consecutive points until the Ducks reeled off six in a row to take a 20-15 lead. It was Bickford teaming up with Moran for the first three points of the stretch, while a LaBouliere attack error closed it out. Wentworth rallied with five straight points to take a 22-21 lead and threaten a fourth set, but two Wentworth errors and kills from Lancia and Feulner wrapped up the sweep. Seven of the Ducks' 11 victories have come in three sets.
 
Inside the Numbers

• After New Paltz served eight aces in the opening set, the Ducks allowed just two over the final three sets.
• Sherman's 17 kills against New Paltz marked a season high and tied for the second-most the Sunnyvale, California native has set down in a match during his two seasons on Castle Point.
• Bone finished the match with New Paltz one kill shy of a double-double with nine kills and a career-high 10 digs. 
• Feulner hit .455 (6-1-11) against New Paltz and .571 (4-0-7) against Wentworth. He also totaled five aces across the two matches.
• After dropping the first set to New Paltz, the Ducks increased their hitting percentage in each of the subsequent three sets, culminating with a 14-2-30 (.400) performance in the final set.
• The Ducks totaled 11 blocks across the two matches and 12 aces.
• Bickford led the Ducks with eight digs against Wentworth. As a team, the Ducks totaled 38 digs against 24 for the Leopards.
• Lancia has reached double figures in kills in each of his last three matches. 
• Senior Alex Franke had an efficient eight kills and seven digs against Wentworth.
• The Ducks registered an impressive 83% sideout percentage in the first set against Wentworth.

From the Sidelines - Head Coach Dan Buehring

• "It was nice to see how tough and resilient our group is. New Paltz went career from the service line to start the match and our discipline, strength and preparation took over from there for a great comeback. This group is starting to find a special brand of competitive toughness. We need to continue enjoying these battles with great teams."
• "Our depth and discipline then looked great against Wentworth. The Leopards were tough for us today with some real size. When it came down to it though, I thought we were nicely disciplined to handle the storms."

 
Up Next

• No. 1 Men's Volleyball travels to the Midwest next weekend for three matches.
• No. 6 Carthage College is first up on the schedule, with the Ducks taking on the Firebirds on Feb. 10 at Tarble Arena.
• The teams have split four all-time meetings and the Friday night matchup will be the Ducks' fifth against a nationally-ranked opponent. 
• Links for live stats and video are available on StevensDucks.com.

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