NEWARK, N.J. – The No. 2 Stevens Institute of Technology men's volleyball team fell in a five-set marathon to No. RV Rutgers-Newark on Tuesday night after dropping the first, fourth, and fifth sets.

Stevens (10-2) dropped the opening set 26-28, won the second 25-21 and the third 25-20, then lost the fourth 20-25 and fifth 10-15.

How It Happened
Neither team held a lead more than two points in the opening set until Rutgers-Newark reeled off three straight at 20-19, though Stevens took the next four to level the set at 23-all. Rutgers had three set points at 24-23, 25-24, and 26-25, with the Ducks holding on all three before the Scarlet Raiders finally closed out with back-to-back kills. In all, the set featured 13 ties and five lead changes, with the Scarlet Raiders surviving six service errors (to one for Stevens).

Stevens trailed 5-2 in the second set but reeled off four straight and eight of the next nine, seizing a 10-6 lead. The Scarlet Raiders pulled within one at 11-10, but trailed by at least two the rest of the set as the Ducks eventually opened leads as big as 23-18 and 24-19; Ryan Schmid had six kills for the second time in as many sets to lead the Stevens attack.

The third set was as close, if not closer than sets one and two, as the score was tied at every possible instance between 5-5 and 19-19. The Ducks finally took a 21-19 lead, conceded a Rutgers-Newark kill, then benefited from two errors, an ace, and a Joshua Levandoske set-ending kill.

The Ducks trailed 10-7, 14-10, and 17-12 in the fourth, but came all the way back to within a single point as late as 19-18 before the Scarlet Raiders sent it to a fifth with a 6-2 run to close the set. Stevens fell behind 11-4 and 14-7 in the fifth, managing to pull back within 14-10, but an attack error closed out the night and the Rutgers-Newark win.

Inside The Box Score

• Schmid finished with 22 kills, giving him 56 over his last three matches after totaling just 42 over his first six appearances of the year
• Hoke had nine kills with no errors, finishing with a .750 hitting percentage, his fourth match with at least five kills and an attack percentage over .400 this season
• Nick Schmidt finished with 44 assists, his fifth 40+ assist effort of the year, just missing a double-double with nine digs
• Greg Li had a strong defensive effort at the net, recording three solo blocks and three assisted blocks

 
UP NEXT
Stevens will play a tri-match on Saturday, February 21, against Wheaton (12 PM) and Wentworth (2 PM).

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