New Haven Box Score
Emmanuel Box Score

BOSTON, MA (January 29, 2011) – The Vassar College men's volleyball team opened play at a non-conference tri-match this afternoon with a near-perfect effort in a 3-0 (25-15, 25-13, 25-17) victory over New Haven. In Vassar's second match against No. 11 nationally ranked Emmanuel, the Brewers lost in a hard fought four-set match 20-25, 27-29, 25-23, 17-25).

The Brewers, now 3-3 on the season, will play next at New York University on Tuesday, February 1 and remain on the road against Stevens Institute of Technology on Wednesday, February 2.

In the three set sweep over New Haven, the Brewers made only three attack errors in 80 attack attempts. Four Brewer players had seven or more kills, led by a nine kill effort from sophomore hitter Matthew Elgin. Senior hitter Evan Fredericksen followed suit with eight kills and in perhaps his best performance in uniform, sophomore hitter Charles Caldwell had seven kills without an error in 13 attempts. Junior Lucas Rathjens had seven kills as well.

Emmanuel improved to 7-2 with the victory over Vassar. In the first set, the Saints took an early 6-5 lead and pushed it to 22-16 on a kill from Curtis Abram. Emmanuel carried that momentum for a 25-20 win.

A highly competitive second set saw Emmanuel jump out to a 7-3 lead. Vassar went on a 4-0 run and tied the match 7-7. Emmanuel regained the lead at 11-10 after consecutive kills by Abram, but Konow put the Brewers back on top with a kill, 16-13. The Saints came back and cut the deficit to one point at 20-19, prompting a Vassar timeout. Abram served back-to-back aces out of the timeout and the Saints took a 21-20 lead. A huge block and a kill by Elgin gave the Brewers a 23-22 edge. In back-and-forth action, an Emmanuel kill by Tyson Rietz gave the Saints set point at 24-23. Vassar evened it up and went ahead 25-24 on another Elgin kill. The two clubs exchanged several set points before Jake DeLuise set up Abram for a 29-27 Emmanuel win, giving the Saints a 2-0 match lead.

Emmanuel jumped out to an 11-8 set three lead after a kill by Rietz. An Abram kill put the Saints up 14-11. However, a Vassar kill by freshman Joe Pyne and an ensuing Emmanuel hitting error tied the set at 15-15, only to see another tie at 19-19. The Brewers took a one-point lead at 21-20 and the Saints tied the set again. After another tie at 23-23, Vassar earned set point at 24-23 and forced set four on an Emmanuel hitting error, 25-23.

The Saints battled to a 17-14 lead in the fourth set and built a seven-point cushion to go up 23-16. Emmanuel closed out the match 25-17.

Fredericksen led the Brewers with 15 kills and Elgin added eight. Konow had 34 set assists.