GRANTHAM, Pa. (January 27, 2024) – Graduate student Nathan Lancia and junior Koby Sherman combined for 28 kills in game one, while first-year Alex Olcott tallied eight in game two, as the No. 2 Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball beat both No. 12 Juniata 3-1 (25-22, 18-25, 25-18, 25-17), and Lancaster Bible 3-0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-23) Saturday at the Messiah Invitational.
Graduate student Louden Moran totaled 41 assists against Juniata, while junior Sebastian Huyke had 14 for the Ducks against Lancaster Bible.
Stevens allowed Juniata to hit .203 in the match and held the Chargers to hit .103. The Ducks were consistent on the day as they hit .327 against the Eagles and .286 against Lancaster Bible.
Juniata and Lancaster Bible were both NCAA Tournament teams a season ago. Stevens is now 12-12 against Juniata, while improving to 5-1 against Lancaster Bible.
The Rundown (Juniata)
- Moran and Lancia recorded the first two kills of the day for the Ducks as they took a 2-1 lead early. Later tied at six, the Ducks scored four of the next five to take a 10-7 lead. Juniata then came back and took the lead for most of the middle part of the set until the Ducks tied it back up at 16. Tied at 19, Stevens won four crucial points in a row to lead 23-19. Graduate student Connor Feulner had one kill on the run while three came from Juniata errors. The Ducks would win the first 25-22.
- The second set belonged to the Eagles as they would tie things up at one-a-piece. Stevens jumped out to an early 8-7 lead, but Juniata would take over from there. It seemed like for every one point the Ducks scored, Juniata would come back with two of their own. They led 21-17 and closed with scoring four of the last five to win 25-18.
- Juniata scored the first two points of set three but then the Ducks rallied off five to take an early 5-2 lead. Sherman had a kill on the run. The Eagles would come back and tie things at six, but then the Ducks would go up 10-7. Later up 13-10, Stevens got four straight points as Lancia recorded two kills, Sherman had one, and Moran tallied an ace. Stevens would maintain distance from Juniata the rest of the way as they won set three 25-18.
- Juniata led 5-3 in set four before the Ducks came back and took a 7-5 lead. Later with the Ducks up 14-12, Stevens used a 5-0 run to take all the momentum. Sherman had two kills on the run while Lancia added another. From there, Stevens held control and would go on to win 25-17 and take the first match of the day 3-1.
The Rundown (Lancaster Bible)
- Stevens jumped out to a 4-1 lead against the Chargers in the first frame. Sophomore Tyler Hoke and graduate student Percy Bickford each had early kills. Later with the Ducks up 10-7, they would go on to score eight of the next ten to take a sizable 16-8 lead. It would be too much to overcome for Lancaster Bible, as Stevens won the first 25-16.
- The Ducks continued to roll in set two as they went up by scores of 7-3 and 12-6. Junior Sebastian Huyke led the way with three kills on the 12 points for Stevens. The Chargers would get a point back, but then Stevens scored four more to go up by nine. Three of the final five Duck points came via errors as the Ducks took a commanding 2-0 lead by winning set two 25-15.
- Lancaster Bible hung around in the third and made it tough on the Ducks. The Chargers led 8-6 and 12-8 as they tried to stay alive by forcing a fourth set. Stevens wasn't having it though, as came back to take the match. Down 22-19, Olcott had three-straight kills to tie the match at 22. The Chargers scored the next point, but Stevens scored the final three to win 25-23.
Top Performers
- Lancia finished the Juniata match with a hitting percentage of .444 on 27 attacks.
- Hoke tallied six blocks against Juniata.
- Junior Jesse Knuckles tallied 15 digs against Juniata.
- Senior Phu-Quy Ho had eight digs against Lancaster Bible.
- Bickford had nine kills and eight digs versus Juniata.
For the Opponents
- Tyler Goldsborough had 12 kills and 12 digs for Juniata.
- Jake Rotelle had 10 kills for Lancaster Bible.
- Reese Ganter tallied 37 assists for the Eagles.
- Ben Latham had 11 digs for the Chargers.
Around the Middle Atlantic Conference
- Arcadia 2, Hunter 3 F/WED
- Eastern 3, Neumann 1 F/WED
- Wilkes 1, Widener 3 F/THUR
- Juniata 3, Messiah 2 F/FRI
- MIT 3, Stevenson 0
- Concordia University of Wisconsin 3, Widener 2
- Mount Aloysius 0, King's 3
- Arcadia 3, Immaculata 0
- Eastern 3, Wilson 0
- Eastern 1, Elizabethtown 3
- Bryn Athyn 0, King's 3
- Vassar 3, Messiah 0
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