Box Score

NEW YORK, NY (April 1, 2010) – One night after falling to Springfield College, the No. 2 ranked team in the AVCA Coaches Poll, the Vassar College men's volleyball team avenged the loss by upsetting No. 5 nationally ranked Baruch College, 3-1 (19-30, 33-31, 30-23, 32-30), in the final regular season match of the season on Thursday night at ARC Arena. Baruch came into the contest with a lofty 32-3 record is currently the No. 1 ranked team in the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association (NECVA). 

Vassar concludes its regular season at 18-8 and will play next Friday in the opening of the NECVA Conference Championships on Cape Cod against an opponent to be determined. Baruch goes to an impressive 32-4 and travels to Stevens Institute of Technology on April 5 for a 7:00 p.m. match. 

The Brewers were led by a season- high 29 kills from senior Phil Tully, which is just three shy of his career high of 32 kills against Stevens as a sophomore. Junior Evan Fredericksen had 20 kills -- one less than his 21 kills earlier in the sesaon against SUNY New Paltz -- and the potent frontline duo accounted for 49 of Vassar's 69 kills against the Bearcats. Freshman John Konow spearheaded the offense with 55 kills, the second 50-plus set assist match in his young career. Freshman Christian La Du had 14 digs for a Brewers team that had 47 in the match. 

Pablo Oliveira and Santos Rivera each had 17 kills for Baruch. Ivan Andujar had 37 set assists and Jonathan Tuwaidan had 10 digs. 

In victory, the Brewers fought off two-set points in the second set that otherwise would have provided Baruch with a 2-0 start to the match. 

Baruch won the opening set with a .464 attack percentage against a .077 for Vassar, but following the 30-19 loss, the Brewers regrouped and won two closely played sets – 33-31 in the second, and 32-30 in the fourth -- for their 18th win of the season. 

The all-important fourth set was tied nine times, dramatically at 30-30 by the Brewers who trailed 30-29 but received a clutch kill from Fredericksen kill off an set by Tully. Tied at 30-30, Tully responded with the go-ahead kill and then freshman Matthew Elgin produced a huge service ace that ended the match and eliminated the need for a fifth set. Tully had a monster fourth set, collecting 10 of his 29 kills, including four of Vassar's final six attack points. 

The third set was even through the first 28 points at 14-14, but the Brewers ran off eight of the next ten for a 22-16 lead and built that margin to 27-19, forcing a Baruch timeout. While the Bearcats tried to make some headway, Vassar got the necessary kills from Tully, freshman Patrick Donohue (for a 29-23 Vassar lead) and the final point by Tully for the 30-23 win. 

The second set was clearly the swing set of the match, as Vassar secured a 33-31 win and knotted the match at 1-1, fighting off two set points in the process. Vassar went ahead 25-21 following a Baruch attack error, but the hosts scored four straight points to draw even at 25-25 and then were on the brink of victory, ahead 29-26, when sophomore Lucas Rathjens had a huge kill. Baruch had an untimely attack error and Vassar evened the match at 29-29 when Fredericksen landed a kill. A service ace by Elgin put Vassar ahead 30-29, but Baruch responded with two straight points for a 31-30 lead. Vassar called timeout and responded with three straight points, eingineered by Fredericksen and Tully, for the critical 33-31 win.