Box Score

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (March 22, 2010) -- After dropping a very close first set, the Vassar College men's volleyball team fought its way back to win the second set but was unable to complete the comeback, eventually falling to No. 4 nationally ranked New York University 23-25, 25-16, 22-25, 19-25 Tuesday evening at Kenyon Hall.

The No. 14 ranked Brewers fall to 16-10 on the season and will travel to Nazareth this weekend to take on D'Youville College at 12 p.m. on Saturday, March 26 in the first round of the UVC Championships. They will return to Kenyon Hall for their final home match of the season against Baruch next Wednesday, March 30 at 7 p.m. The Violets improve their record to 14-7 and will play Harvard this Friday night, March 25 at 7 p.m.

Vassar was led by senior Evan Fredericksen who had 19 kills on the evening to go along with 10 digs, two aces and two block assists. Vassar got seven kills from sophomore Charles Caldwell and six apiece from sophomore Matt Elgin and junior Lucas Rathjens. Sophomore libero Christian La Du had 16 digs in the match while classmate John Konow had 28 set assists. NYU received 14 kills and seven digs from junior hitter Pat Dodd and six each from junior Luke Lamlet and freshmen Parker Kolodka and Nick Capriccio. Freshman setter Connor Mortland registered 36 set assists and seven digs on the night.

With a lead of two sets to one, the Violets came out strong in the fourth and final set, immediately taking control of the match, building an early lead as large as 15-9. The Brewers were able to mount a comeback behind the play of Fredericksen, who had a pair of kills as well as a service ace to help cut the lead to 19-15. The Brewers were unable to get any closer, however, as NYU clinched the win with an ace from Dodd and a kill from Kolodka. Fredericksen had six kills in the set.

With the match tied at a set apiece, neither team was able to grab an early lead in the third set. Fredericksen had three early kills to pace the Brewers, but back to back kills from NYU sophomore Taylor Donovan gave the Violets a 19-15 lead they would never relinquish. Kills from Rathjens and Elgin kept the Brewers alive, but a thunderous block from Hamlet and Mortland closed out the set for NYU, 25-22.

The Brewers jumped out to an early 7-1 lead in the second set behind a kill and a service ace from Konow and never looked back. Kills from Konow and Fredericksen as well as a monstrous block by the pair pushed the Vassar lead to as large as 20-10. The Brewers took advantage of Violet attack errors as well as a kill from Caldwell to win the set 25-16 and tie the match at one set each.

The Violets had nabbed the early lead in the first set of the match, but the Brewers scored five straight points including a strong solo block from junior Clifford Quinn and another from Quinn and sophomore Patrick Donohue to take a 7-6 lead. The teams traded points the rest of the way with Fredericksen and Rathjens leading the way for the Brewers, but attack errors hurt the Brewers and a pair of kills from Dodd allowed NYU to steal the set, 25-23.