Box Score

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (March 2, 2010) – In a gutsy, tough-it-out performance, the Vassar College men's volleyball team took a big step toward winning its second North East Collegiate Volleyball Association (NECVA) Metro Division title in the last three years with a 3-2 (27-30, 30-17, 30-25, 29-31, 15-12) victory over cross river rival SUNY New Paltz on Tuesday evening at Kenyon Hall. 

Tully, Konow, Earn NECVA Honors  On Tuesday, the NECVA announced that senior Phil Tully and freshman John Konow were the Metro Division and Conference Player and Rookie of the Week.  Tully, who earned AVCA/Sports Imports national Player of the Week honors, was the Metro Division choice. He had a particularly strong two-match string for Vassar, lead the Brewers to two victories, which ran the winning streak to seven matches. He had back-to-back 20 kill matches, including 25 in a big NECVA Metro win over Ramapo College, 3-1. For the No. 9 nationally ranked Brewers, Tully had 46 total kills and only 11 errors on 87 attack attempts, a .402 hitting percentage. He had a strong dig effort against Ramapo, collecting 13 in the match. Earlier in the week, Tully led Vassar with a .486 hitting percentage against Bard College, a 3-1 Brewers win. He had 21 kills on 35 attempts with only four errors.  Konow, who is ranked 5th in the nation in assists, was the Metro and Conference rookie selection, He spearheaded two big NECVA Metro victories for the Brewers. In a 2-0 week for Vassar, Konow had 96 set assists (13.71), including 61 in a big win over Ramapo. The 61 assists represents the second time this season that Konow has topped the 60 mark, right behind his career-high 66 against New Paltz. Konow also added 11 digs, getting seven of those against Ramapo, along with five total blocks for the week.

The victory extends Vassar's winning streak to eight straight matches and improves the Brewers to the 14-6, 6-0 on the season. In Metro Division play, Vassar now has wins over its primary rivals in Stevens, Ramapo and New Paltz, but faces a tough obstacle on Saturday with an away contest at New Jersey City University at 2:00 p.m. The Hawks, which have now lost four straight matches, drop to 10-9, 3-1 and have a quick and difficult turnaround with an away match at Ramapo on Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m. 

Senior Phil Tully, the AVCA/Sports Imports Division III National Player of the Week, led Vassar with 26 kills and a .444 hitting percentage, securing four of those kills in the critical fifth set. Junior Evan Fredericksen, who seemingly always produces important kills at just the right time, finished with 18 in the match and freshman Matthew Elgin had a handful of timely kills in crunch time and finished with 10 on 20 attempts with one error, producing a .450 attack percentage. Freshman John Konow had second straight match with 60-plus assists, earning 62 on the night to go along with 13 digs. Fellow freshman Christian La Du had 14 digs on the night. 

New Paltz got two monster performances from senior Jake Moore with 26 kills and 23 kills from sophomore Kevin Stross, who earned that total on 35 attempts with only two errors, a .600 hitting percentage. Stross' hitting performance was a highlight for New Paltz, which started play connecting on .471 of its attempts, only to see that number drop significantly throughout the match, culminating in only .150 in the final set and .285 for the match. 

Vassar, which got off to a sluggish start – a .244 attack percentage in the first set – steadily improved its accuracy, and hit .348 for the match. In winning the second and third sets, the Brewers committed a combined four errors and hit .500 and .480. 

Errors from both teams told the story of victory and defeat. New Paltz made 26 serving miscues, many at key junctures and a bevy of unforced attack errors. Vassar rebounded from an eight error first set and a seven error fourth set to prevail behind an all-court game that produced 57 digs, at least one from all nine players who saw action. 

In the deciding fifth set, the match was evenly contested and tied 12-12 (one of eight ties) following a kill by the Hawks' Moore. Vassar earned the last three points off an Elgin kill, block assists from Fredericksen and Patrick Donohue and an attack error by Moore. 

Reaching that juncture was a slugfest. New Paltz captured the fourth set 31-29 in dramatic fashion. The Hawks won six of seven points when trailing 16-11 to take a 17-11 lead. The set see-sawed until the Hawks went up 29-28, but a New Paltz serving error tied the set 29-29. Moore responded with a kill and an ensuing Vassar attack error provided the margin of victory. The New Paltz comeback negated a 10-kill set by Tully. 

Outside of the fifth set, Vassar played its best in the third and second sets, winning 30-25 and 30-17. In the third set, Vassar broke out to an 11-5 lead, capitalizing on six straight New Paltz errors and rode a .480 hitting set to remain in control throughout. New Paltz did come within two points (23-21), but back-to-back kills by Tully kept the visitors at bay and the freshman tandem of Matthew Donohue and Elgin closed out the last two points. 

Vassar rolled easily on the second set, 30-17, largely due to a .000 hitting percentage by New Paltz and a .500 team hitting performance with only two attack errors. Tully and Elgin paced the Brewers in this set, with Fredericksen connecting on critical kills.. New Paltz managed only eight kills but made eight errors and were in catch-up mode throughout the set. 

The first set was tied 13 times, the last coming at 17-17. New Paltz got 11 of its 19 kills from Moore and Stross in this set and the Hawks made only three attack errors on 34 attempts. A Fredericksen kill managed to bring Vassar to within 28-25, but Stross accounted for the final two points of the opening 30-27 win.