WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (March 1, 2023) – Sophomore Koby Sherman totaled 12 kills on 18 attacks without an error as No. 1 Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball swept Wilkes University (25-15, 25-13, 25-15) Wednesday evening in a Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) contest at the Marts Center.

Senior Christopher Varseveld had four kills and three blocks and classmate Percy Bickford had seven kills and a pair of aces for the Ducks, who won their seventh straight game to improve to 18-2 on the year and to 2-0 in MAC play.

Jackson Shafer had 11 kills and Noah Taylor added five for Wilkes, who fell to 12-6 on the year and to 1-3 in conference matches. The Colonels have dropped two straight. Stevens has won all three meetings between the programs.

The Ducks hit a season-high .452 in recording their 12th sweep of the year. The Ducks totaled 41 kills on 73 attacks with just eight errors. Stevens committed just two errors in both the first and second sets and hit an impressive .542 (15-2-24) in the second set. Conversely, the Ducks held Wilkes to just two more kills (17) than errors (15) over the same period.

Wilkes scored the first point of the match on a kill by Paul Binner. The Colonels would score three straight points on a pair of Lucas Mages and a service ace to take a 8-7 lead. However, the Ducks reeled off an impressive 11-point run to take a commanding 19-9 lead. Another three-point sequence pushed the lead to 11 and the Ducks closed out the set on a Bickford kill.

The Colonels jumped on the board early in the second set, scoring the first three points of the frame. A 5-1 run gave the Ducks their first lead, but a service ace returned the serve to Wilkes with the score tied at five. While the Ducks had a singular impressive run in the opening set, they scored three straight points on four different occasions to take control of the set. Varseveld knocked down a feed from graduate student Colin Nikc to bring the Ducks to set point and a Wilkes attack error closed out the frame.

Unlike the first two sets, it was the Ducks that jumped on the board first in the third, scoring the first three points of the frame to take early control. Sherman connected on a pass from sophomore libero Jesse Knuckles and the early swing was punctuated by an ace from senior Nathan Lancia. Seven straight points swelled the Ducks' lead to 10, which included an ace from sophomore Kevin Herbst. Wilkes attempted to climb back into the frame with three straight points, but Sherman had a kill and an ace to spark a 5-1 run that pushed the advantage to 23-12. Lancia set down a Herbst pass to propel the Ducks to match point and a bad set closed out the three-set victory.

Inside the Numbers

• Stevens finished with seven aces. Sherman and Bickford each had two to lead the efforts.
• Nikc finished with 24 assists, while Herbst had a career-high nine in the third set.
• The Ducks totaled five total blocks. In addition to Varseveld's team-leading three blocks, sophomore Hunter Schmidt had two. 
• Knuckles led the team with five digs. 
• 10 different Ducks had at least one kill.
• Impressively, the Ducks had just five service errors. 

Up Next

• No. 1 Men's Volleyball heads to Newton, Massachusetts on Mar. 4 for a tri-match with Lasell and Baruch. 
• The Ducks defeated Baruch in Canavan Arena on Jan. 31 and have won the last nine matches in the all-time series. 
• Stevens has won all three prior meetings with Lasell and Saturday's matchup will be the first meeting between the teams outside of the state of New Jersey.
• Links for live stats and video for both matches will be posted StevensDucks.com once they are made available. 

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