NEWARK, NJ—Visiting Stevens dropped the first set in it men's volleyball match at NJIT Wednesday night, but the Ducks came back to sweep the next three close sets for a 3-1 victory over the Highlanders in the Fleisher Athletic Center.
Wednesday's 21-25, 25-22, 25-21, 28-26 win pushes Stevens, ranked first in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association Division III national poll, to 18-4, with nine consecutive victories.
NJIT, which had won its previous five contests outside of the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, is now 5-3 in non-conference matches and 7-8 overall.
Stevens was ranked first in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division III national poll when it took the first two sets from NJIT on February 11 in Hoboken, only to have the Highlanders roar back and win the next three sets for a 3-2 come-from-behind victory.
Stevens, which dropped from #1 to #2 in the national poll on February 24, spent one more week in the second spot before ascending back to the top of the poll again on March 10. The Ducks are 12-1 since their February loss to NJIT.
On Wednesday, Stevens hit for a strong .355 percentage as a team, led by seniors David Evans (17 kills, 4 errors, 41 attempts, .317 pct) and Ryan Seifert (15 kills, 2 errors, 27 attempts, .481 pct), along with sophomore Jordan Stuart (10 kills, 1 error, 17 attempts, .529 pct). Evans and Seifert hit from the outside, while Stuart is a middle.
Senior setter Kevin Aeckerle's 35 assists led the visitors in that department.
Neither team scored much for its own side in the serving game, as NJIT got a lone ace from
TJ Jurko, but handed Stevens 20 points on service errors. Stevens managed one ace each for Evans and Seifert, while losing 17 points on service errors.
On defense, the victorious Ducks got a match-best 15 digs from Chris Vaughn and Stevens dominated the blocking with 12.5 total team blocks to 3.5 total team blocks for the Highlanders.
Junior Etan Bennett had a match-leading six blocks (1 solo, 5 assisted) for Stevens, which also got five block assists from the 6-foot-5 sophomore Stuart.
For NJIT, setters
Zak Robben, a senior, and
Cameron Tait, a freshman, combined for 50 assists, with Robben getting 27 in four sets' action and Tait compiling 23 in two sets.
Three Highlanders piled up double-figure kills totals, topped by a match-leading 20 for
Jabarry Goodridge. Seniors Kajetan Boreck and Jurko posted totals of 15 and 14, respectively.
Two seniors, Jurko and libero
Oren Zyndorf shared the NJIT lead in digs with 12 each.
Ryan Thomas was NJIT's leader at the net, producing a block solo and two block assists.
Wednesday's match was close throughout, with neither team taking a set by more than four points and the match-clinching fourth set needing extra points before Stevens prevailed, 28-26. The night saw 31 ties scores, including 11 in the second set and 13 in the fourth.
The first set was NJIT's best hitting frame of the night, as the Highlanders posted a team attack percentage of .469 in winning the set, 25-21. Goodridge had seven kills in eight swings to lead the way.
Despite the most effective hitting of the night for the Highlanders, it was fight to win the set they never led by more than five points and the five-point leads came late, 21-16 and 21-17.
The second set was tied as late as 19-19 before Stevens took advantage of a small crack and notched points on a Highlander service error followed by an Evans kill. That was enough to put the Ducks ahead for the rest of the set, which they clinched on a combined block by Stuart and Evans.
The only tie of the third set came at 1-1 and the visitors rolled early, building an 11-4 lead. It was 14-8 for the Ducks when NJIT surged back into contention with a 6-2 run that included kills from four different Highlanders.
The score stayed close until 18-16 when Stevens used a 5-1 spurt to take control at 23-17. NJIT got back within three points of the lead, but it was too late, with Vaughan's kill for set point giving his team a 2-1 advantage for the night.
Aiming to repeat its come-from-behind win at Stevens exactly a month earlier, NJIT fought to 13 tie scores in the fourth set, with four of the ties coming from 18-18 on.
Stevens, which never trailed after being down 17-18, came up short in its bid for match point at 24-22, 24-23, 25-24, and 26-25 before finally settling things on a Stuart kill that made the score 27-26 and clinching when NJIT's attack attempt went out of bounds.
The upcoming calendar is light for the Highlanders, who next host Alderson Broaddus on March 21. After that, the schedule holds five consecutive away contests, four in the EIVA, beginning on March 27 with a trip to Loretto, PA for a match at Saint Francis.
