HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 15, 2023) – Sophomore Koby Sherman recorded 16 kills to go along with a career high seven aces as the No. 2 ranked Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team defeated #2 Messiah University 3-2 (25-15, 25-23, 21-25, 25-27, 15-8) to win the MAC Championship Saturday night inside Canavan Arena.

The Ducks have now won their second straight MAC Championship after also winning it during the 2022 campaign. Because they won the conference championship, the Ducks will get an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. This will be the ninth time in school history that the Ducks have qualified for the NCAA Tournament, second most among all men's Division III volleyball programs. Stevens has also won 35 straight matches inside Canavan Arena.

Sherman's stellar performance prompted him to be the MAC Championship MVP. The sophomore has now won the award for the second straight season. It was a hard decision as there were many other players who were deserving as well, including senior Percy Bickford. He had ten kills to go along with five digs. Senior Connor Feulner also had a big game, tallying 12 kills and four blocks. Senior Louden Moran added 40 assists and matched Bickford with eight digs.

Messiah was led by Mason Nissly who had a game-high 20 kills. The Falcons finish the season with a 25-5 record. Coming into the night, they were ranked number five in the nation. They will now hope to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Stevens got off to an early 5-3 lead as they were able to get a kill from Bickford and errors from the Falcons. Messiah would score five of the next six points to take a 8-6 lead. The Ducks followed that up with a 4-0 spurt thanks in part to kills from Sherman and Bickford. Later tied at twelve, Stevens scored three straight thanks to Falcon errors and they never relinquished the lead from there. Leading 17-14, the Ducks tallied five in a row to put away the Falcons. Sherman, Feulner, and senior Nathan Lancia all had kills while Sherman had one of his seven aces on the run. Stevens closed out the set with two kills from Feulner and a skip set kill from Moran to gain the early momentum.

Looking to get back on the right track, Messiah kept pace with Stevens throughout the second set. The two teams continued to trade the lead back and forth after things had settled down from a pretty dominant Stevens first set. Moving to Messiah up 14-13, the Ducks had three straight points via a Feulner kill, Sherman ace, and an attack error to go up 16-14. The Falcons were able to respond with a run of their own, as they went up 21-19 after scoring seven of the next ten. Two points later with the Ducks down 22-20, they scored four straight to take back control as Lancia, Feulner and Sherman each had crucial kills to put the Ducks up two. Messiah won the next point but then committed a service error on the ensuing serve as the Ducks took a two set to none lead.

Things looked to trend towards a sweep as Stevens jumped out to 10-5 lead in set number three. Bickford and Lancia each had two kills early on. The Falcons weren't having it though, as they fought back and took it to the Ducks. They were finally able to get things even at 14 and then maintained that as the teams were still tied up at 21. After being swept earlier in the season by Stevens, Messiah scored the last four points of the third set to avoid the same set and continue playing into the fourth set.

Once again it was Stevens who had the better start to a set. With things tied at four, Sherman went on a 4-0 run by himself as he had a kill which allowed him to serve, and then he had three straight aces to put Stevens up 8-4. Similarly to the third set, Messiah would not go away as they were able to get things tied at 14. With things tied at 21 later Messiah scored three straight points to lead 24-21 and become one point away from forcing a fifth set. Stevens however, was able to score the next three to tie it at 24. Feulner had a kill and Lancia had an ace. Despite giving up the lead, the Falcons were able to hold on and take the fourth set 27-25, forcing a huge fifth set with a conference championship on the line.

The trend repeated itself as Stevens soared to a 6-1 lead to kick off the crucial fifth set. Sherman accounted for three kills and Moran had an ace on the opening run. By this point, Messiah had already burned both of its timeouts in the set. The Falcons could not find their way back a third time as Stevens held on and won 15-8 in front of an electrified Canavan Crowd.

Inside the Numbers

• The Ducks recorded hitting numbers of 50-17-108 (.306) in the contest. Messiah tallied hitting numbers of 56-23-118 (.280)
• Only six Ducks recorded a kill in the contest. Sherman and Feulner combined for 28 of the team's 50 kills. Bickford was also in double digits with ten.
• Stevens had 16 blocks while Messiah had seven. Lancia had two solo blocks and two block assists. Feulner had one solo block and three block assists.
• The Ducks recorded ten aces on the evening. Sherman led the way with seven while Moran had two.
• Moran and Bickford each had eight kills. Junior Phu-Quy Ho had seven.
• Stevens is now 4-2 all-time against Messiah. They have won four straight against the Falcons, including beating them in last year's conference championship.

Up Next

• The Ducks will be watching the NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Selection Show, which kicks off Monday morning at 10 a.m. Matchups, locations, and times will be announced in the coming days.
• Please check StevensDucks.com for more information.