Philadelphia Biblical Box Score

Johnson & Wales Box Score

Tournament Page

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (February 19, 2010) – The Vassar College men's volleyball team is halfway towards defending its title at the annual Invitational. The Brewers knocked off both Philadelphia Biblical University and Johnson & Wales by 3-1 scores to advance to Saturday's matches against Elms College and Nazareth on a three-game winning streak.

In the opening match against No. 6 nationally ranked Philadelphia Biblical, the Brewers pulled off the upset, 3-1 (26-30, 30-24, 30-28, 30-28). Against a feisty Johnson & Wales team, the Brewers won 3-1 (30-24, 30-22, 30-32, 30-16).

Vassar 3, Philadelphia Biblical 1 (26-30, 30-24, 30-28, 30-28)
The Brewers and the Crimson Eagles put on a good show for the crowd in Walker Field House in the first match on Friday evening, and in four close sets Vassar prevailed for the upset, The contest pitted two of the nation's best hitters against one another—Vassar's Phil Tully and Philadelphia's Justin Brubaker—and the two lived up to their reputations, finishing with 22 and 28 kills respectively.

All four sets started out neck and neck, with neither team able to build an early commanding lead. Philadelphia pulled out of a 12-12 tie in the first set with aggressive hitting to lead 18-13, and the closest Vassar would get from then on was to cut the lead to three, at 22-19. Brubaker established himself as a dominant force early on; he had seven kills in the first game alone.

Down 1-0, Vassar didn't exactly come roaring back in the second game, but they were able to even the grade. Both teams hit poorly in the second—Vassar at .094, Philadelphia at .089—but it was ultimately the Brewers' defensive net play that turned the tables in their favor. Vassar built an 8-point lead at the 20-12 mark thanks to great blocking by Matt Elgin, Lucas Rathjens, and John Konow. The Brewers earned a 6-0 blocking advantage over Philadelphia in that set.

Vassar showed its true intensity in the third game, in which they shot a daunting .395 as a team. It was by far the closest competition of the match—there had already been nine ties at the 9-9 mark—and Philadelphia appeared to be pulling away from there, as they rallied off a 6-1 streak to lead 15-10. The Brewers, though, maintained their composure and slowly climbed back into it. An Elgin service ace evened things up again at the 21-21 mark, and held the advantage down the stretch. Freshman libero Christian La Du provided some clutch acrobatic digs to give Vassar the 2-1 lead.

In the fourth and final set, Tully and Brubaker truly went at it. The Eagles evened the score at 18-all, and for the following four consecutive points, the two star hitters traded kills. Leading 26-21 after a Leandro Dueck kill, it appeared that Philadelphia might take the match to a fifth game, but Vassar roared back and outscored the Eagles 9-2 to get the win.

For Philadelphia, Dueck followed Brubaker's match-high 28 kills with 17 of his own, and also recorded 17 digs. Setter Drew Dillon had 62 assists.

Tully, Vassar's two-time All-American, had 22 kills on .333 hitting and also assisted on 5 blocks. Fredericksen tallied 15 kills and Elgin 10, and Konow had 55 assists.


Vassar 3, Johnson & Wales 1 (30-24, 30-22, 30-32, 30-16)
With Vassar up two games to none, Johnson and Wales University showed resilience to muster a 27-23 lead late in the third game. The Brewers rattled off a 6-2 run to set up match point at 29-28 off a Patrick Donohue kill but could not convert. The Wildcats fought off two match points to even the score at 30-30 and then Brewers surrendered the game with two attack errors. Attack errors proved critical in this game as Vassar committed 13 while hitting .149 compared to Johnson and Wales which had four errors and a .281 attack percentage.

Vassar regrouped in the fourth set, winning the first five points en route to a 30-16 win to close the match.

In the first set, Tully and Elgin led the Brewer offense with six kills apiece to guard the lead the entire set and win 30-24.

Vassar jumped out to a 20-12 lead and took the second set 30-22 behind four kills each for Tully and Frederickson.

Fredickson led Vassar with 18 kills while Tully added 10 with a .240 hitting percentage. Clifford Quinn contributed 84 total assists and La Du notched 12 digs.

Petar Yanakiev led the Wildcats 18 kills and eight digs. Eric Minnich chipped in with 12 kills and a .667 attack percentage. Robert Slough added a game-high 41 set assists.