HOBOKEN, N.J. – Joshua Levandoske and Bennett Heydorn each set career highs in kills as the Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team, No. 5 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll, swept Hunter College Tuesday evening at Canavan Arena, 25-15, 25-15, 25-11.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Stevens (8-1) took the opening three points of the evening on a solo block by Esteban Schmitt and kills by Levandoske and Sebastian Huyke. After Hunter got on the board, the Ducks reeled off another four, including two block assists from Schmitt/Huyke and Schmitt/Ryan Schmid and a kill by Levandoske.

The two sides traded two points each (Schmitt adding another kill), then alternated each of the next four (Heydorn notching a kill during the stretch), with Stevens maintaining an 11-5 lead. Hunter closed to 11-7, but kills from Hunter Schmidt, Heydorn, Huyke, plus a kill & solo block by Levandoske forced a Hawks timeout with Stevens suddenly up 16-8. Three Hunter errors, kills by Levandoske, Schmitt, Schmid, & Heydorn, a Schmidt/Heydorn block assist, and Schmid service ace closed out the set for the Ducks as the Hawks did not close within eight points after the timeout.

Back-to-back kills by Schmid put Stevens up 5-1 early in the second set following up on a Hunter service error and Huyke service ace. After the Hawks took two of the next three points, Schmid added back-to-back kills again, putting the Red and Gray up 8-3. Levandoske added three kills, Schmidt and Huyke combined for a block assist, and two Hawks errors extended the Ducks' lead to 14-7, then two more Hunter errors and a Heydorn/Schmidt block assist pushed the advantage to 17-8. Hunter worked its way back to 19-15, but did not score again in the frame as the Ducks used four Hawks errors and kills from Levandoske and Schmitt to close out another 25-15 set.

The Stevens run extended into the third set, with the Ducks grabbing the first four points of the frame via two Hunter attack errors, a Tyler Christensen service ace, and Levandoske kill. The 4-0 lead became 9-1 following a Hunter service error, Schmitt/Levandoske block assist, Huyke kill, Levandoske kill, and Schmitt/Schmid block assist.

Hunter worked back to 12-6, but Stevens put the next four on the board (Heydorn adding two kills during the spurt) and maintained at least a nine-point cushion the rest of the set to close out the match; Heydorn, Schmidt, Schmitt, Levandoske, and Schmid all added one more kill each in the closing stretch.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Levandoske finished with 11 kills on 21 swings and Heydorn finished with seven kills on 12.
• In addition to Levandoske and Heydorn's career nights, Huyke and Schmitt each set season highs with four kills apiece and Schmid matched his season high with eight. Huyke also registered a match-high 24 assists.
• Titus Rodz ended the evening with a career-high nine digs.
• The Ducks finished the match with 14 total blocks and a hitting percentage of .463 (37 kills, six errors), both season bests. Schmitt finished the night with five total blocks, Schmidt finished with four;
• Stevens held Hunter to a hitting percentage of -.028 (20 kills, 22 errors), the lowest percentage for a Ducks' opponent since Hiram hit -.114 in the first round of last year's NCAA Tournament.

UP NEXT
The Ducks head to NYU, the No. 1 team in the AVCA poll, next Wednesday at 7 pm.