OWINGS MILLS, Md. (April 28, 2023) – For the first time since 2018, the Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team will play for a national championship.

Sophomore Koby Sherman had a team-high 11 kills and senior Connor Feulner paired with fellow middle Tyler Hoke to hit .800 (13-1-15) as the second-ranked Ducks swept No. 4 Messiah University (25-17, 25-19, 25-18) Friday evening in an NCAA semifinal matchup hosted by Stevenson University. 

Senior Percy Bickford added seven kills and classmate Louden Moran dished out 27 assists for the Ducks, who won their sixth straight in improving to 34-3 and to set a program record for victories in a season. The 2023 Ducks surpassed the 33 matches won by both the 2004 and 2007 teams.

Mason Nissley had a match-high 16 kills for Messiah, who saw its season come to an end in falling to 27-6. The Ducks have won the last five meetings between the programs, including all three this season.

The 2015 national champion, the Ducks will face No. 5 North Central College Sunday in the championship final. The Cardinals swept No. 1 Vassar earlier in the evening to advance to their first-ever national championship. Sunday afternoon's contest will be the second-ever meeting between the programs. Stevens swept North Central on Jan. 26, 2019, in a neutral-site match at The Clash at Kean. The Ducks, who are the first Middle Atlantic Conference program to reach the NCAA final, will be making its third appearance in the national championship match.
 
Stevens controlled play throughout the match courtesy of a .422 hitting percentage, the Ducks' fifth-best mark of the season. The Ducks didn't commit more than three attack errors in any of the three sets and totaled just eight in the match (fourth-lowest mark this season) in posting their 20th sweep of the season. Furthering the point, four Ducks hit .460 or better, while Messiah finished with a season-low .155 attack percentage.

Messiah's Nate Bowman was involved in Messiah's first three points. First, the senior middle knocked down a Matt Knab set after a spirited rally for the first point of the match. After a service error, Bowman teamed with Nissley to reject a Moran attack. Sherman again knotted the teams with his first kill of the match, before Bowman converted another Knab set to put the Falcons back in front. Knab finished with 28 assists.

The 3-2 advantage for Messiah in the opening set proved to be the last deficit the Ducks faced on the evening. Sherman set down a Moran set to return serve to Stevens and with Sherman on the service line, the Ducks reeled off four straight points to jump in front for good. A 5-1 run pushed the lead to seven and the Ducks would remain at least four points ahead of Messiah through the remainder of the set. The Ducks scored each of their final three points in the frame to close out the set.

Moran knocked down an over-pass to give the Ducks the first point of set two. Adam Casper converted a Knab pass to knot the score, but in front of an energetic crowd, the Ducks took advantage of three straight Messiah errors to jump in front. A pair of Bickford kills pushed the Ducks' lead to six and a block from Feulner and Sherman pushed the lead to seven. Messiah would make a move in the middle stages of the set, scoring three unanswered points to trim Stevens' lead to five, but a pair of errors sandwiched a Hoke kill to reclaim a comfortable margin. Messiah would again threaten late, but a blocking error prevented a further comeback and gave the Ducks a 2-0 lead in the match.

The final set saw the Ducks score the first two points of the match on blocks by Hoke and Bickford. Stevens totaled eight blocks on the evening. Although the final set produced a match-high six ties, Stevens never trailed. After back-and-forth play dominated the early portion of the set, the Ducks reeled off seven straight points with graduate student Colin Nikc serving to break the set open. As part what turned into an 8-0 run, which began with another Sherman kill Nikc aced Alex Kagoro for the Ducks' lone ace of the match. After Stevens opened a 17-9 lead, neither side strung together more than two consecutive points. Although Messiah fought out match points, Feulner set down a Moran pass into the heart of the Messiah defense to close out the three-set victory. 

Inside the Numbers

• Feulner led all players with four blocks. Seven different Ducks had at least one.
• Feulner has committed just four errors in 57 attacks for a .543 hitting percentage in the postseason. Not to be outdone, Hoke is hitting .400.
• Moran and junior Phu-Quy Ho each registered a match-high eight digs. Bickford finished with seven as the Ducks amassed a 31-20 edge in the statistic.
• Friday's sweep was the Ducks' first in the NCAA semifinals. Each of the squad's two prior trips to the final came on 3-2 semifinal victories. 
• The Ducks finished with just seven service errors, tied for the fourth-lowest total of the season.
• In addition to his eight digs, Ho finished with a career-high five assists. 

From the Sidelines - Head Coach Dan Buehring

• "Tonight was a clear eye of the tiger performance. We respect Messiah's game too much to look past them and it was great to see us compete at a high level. We aim to go out there and play Stevens volleyball each match and push the boundaries of what is possible from ourselves. We look forward to the opportunity to do it again Sunday. We are relishing the moment, our time together as a group, and preparing for the challenges ahead."

 
Up Next

• No. 2 Men's Volleyball will meet No. 5 North Central College Sunday afternoon in the national championship match.
• Links for live stats and video will be posted StevensDucks.com once they are made available. 

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