No. 12 Brewers Clip Hunter Thursday In Four Sets

Recap, photo courtesy of Vassar

NEW YORK (March 22, 2018) – The No. 12 Vassar College men's volleyball team ran its win streak to a season-best five matches Thursday, rallying from down a set to earn a 3-1 victory over Hunter College in non-conference play from the Hunter Sportsplex. VC won with scores of 22-25, 25-18, 25-23 and 25-15.
 
With the victory, Vassar (14-6) has now not lost since February 27 against Elms College going into this weekend's huge United Volleyball Conference (UVC) match with New Paltz Saturday at 4 p.m. in Kenyon Hall. VC will also host The Sage Colleges and Massachusetts Institute of Technology this weekend, playing Sage Sunday afternoon while MIT plays Sage Saturday and New Paltz Sunday.
 
The Brewers dominated pretty much every single offensive category, but service errors over the first few games doomed VC. Vassar held a huge advantage in kills (54-34), points (71.5-45), hitting percentage (.340-.126) and total blocks (12.5-7.0), but 21 service errors by VC kept the Hawks (13-7) in the match.  
 
In the opening set, hosts Hunter College took advantage of seven of those service miscues, pull away and leading by as many as six at 22-16 after a kill from HC's Daniel Kim. Vassar fended off four set points to make the score 24-22 after a block by sophomore Zach Bygall, but Daniel Dobrogowski chalked up a kill to give the Hawks the early 1-0 match edge.
 
The second set was close early but the Brewers slowly turned a 6-6 score and turned it into a 19-12 advantage. Vassar was able to maintain its focus and pulled away for the 25-18 win, as VC held Hunter to a hitting percentage of .100.
 
The third set was nip and tuck the entire way, as the largest lead by either team was three at 20-17 thanks to a Matthew Knigge kill. Hunter battled back to pull to within one at 21-20 after a Benjamin Cassidy ace, and trailed by one again at 24-23, but a George Diehl perfectly placed roll shot pushed VC to a 25-23 win. VC hit .458 in the third set, posting 15 kills on 24 swings.
 
The fourth set saw Vassar's defensive unit once again provide the spark, with VC holding its hosts to .000 hitting for the game while allowing just six kills. VC on the other hand hammered down 14 terminations and led by as many as 12 at 16-4 after a kill from Knigge. The cushion was more than enough for VC to cruise to the victory.
 
Vassar was paced by Knigge and his 20 kills, which marked the sixth time this season he's chalked up 20 or more offensive finishes. Knigge hit .361 on 36 swings, adding five total blocks as well for VC. Diehl continued his nice offensive run of late for Vassar as well, tying his season-high kill total with 15 while efficiently hitting .407 and posting nine digs to lead VC.
 
Senior setter Zechariah Lee continued to rack up the assists as well, as he finished with 44 on the day, while tying for the team lead with nine digs. Sophomore Kevin Ros collected seven kills and a career-high six total blocks, and freshman Jefferson Waters registered seven kills and three service aces as well.
 
Benjamin Cassidy led the way for the Hawks with eight kills, and setter Alex Helford posted 32 assists and six digs in the loss.
 

--VASSAR--