Box Score

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (February 22, 2012) – The No. 10 men's volleyball team narrowly missed out on a season sweep of No. 6 NYU, losing 2-3 in a see-saw battle of United Volleyball Conference rivals.  The set scores were 25-19, 19-25, 25-21, 14-25, 5-15. Charlie Caldwell led the Brewers with 13 kills while Christian La Du notched 14 digs.

Vassar drops to 4-5 overall, 2-4 in conference and next takes the court this Saturday at home in a non-conference tri-match with CCNY and Wentworth State beginning at 11:00 AM in Kenyon Gymnasium. NYU improves to 10-2 and is undefeated in conference play at 6-0. They will travel to SUNY New Paltz on February 29^th.

In the first set Vassar seemed intent on a repeat of the first meeting of the season between these two teams when the Brewers swept the visiting Violets on January 25^th. They scored first and would hold the lead until the middle of the set, and had a four point cushion at 12-8, before the hosts went on a five point run to take their first lead at 13-12. It would prove their only lead, however, as Vassar regained control on the strength of the blocking of Lucas Rathjens and Matt Elgin – each had two blocks in the set – and with some help by a sloppy NYU offense that hit .000 for the frame. Vassar hit .227 to open the match.

This seemed to wake the Violets, who opened the second set with a big ten point lead, 13-3, mostly of their own making by owning the net with seven kills and three blocks in the early going. While it was NYU's biggest lead of the set, Vassar would never really get going and only got within six before succumbing 19-25. Hitting percentage was again the key, with the teams trading the first set numbers, Vassar dropping to .087 while NYU jumped to .286.

The third set was the most competitive of the match, with neither team able to gather momentum or build a lead. The first half featured five ties and three lead changes, and the Brewers were only up by two going into the final points, 20-18. After the teams traded kills, a timely NYU block by Luke Hamlet and Matthew MacDonald followed a Vassar service error to get the Violets within one at 21-22. But it was the Vassar block that would close out the set, with Elgin teaming up with John Konow for two of the final three points, putting the Brewers up 2-1 set advantage with a 25-21 win. Vassar would have their best set of the match hitting .423 to the host's .222.

The visitor's momentum would be short-lived, however, as the fourth set was all NYU, very similar to the second.  They again would hold a large lead for most of the set and stymied the Vassar offense, allowing the visitors only five kills for the set, while racking up 17 of their own to force the deciding fifth set. Unfortunately for the Brewers, that would be the theme late in the match, as their hitting woes continued and they hit in the negative in the final set, while NYU went without an attack error and hit .583 down the stretch. Vassar never really mounted a threat and lost the set 5-15.

Pat Dodd and Taylor Fauntleroy led the Violet attack with 19 and 16 kills respectively, while Libero Jay Hayes anchored the defense with a match-high 15 digs. For Vassar Elgin had 10 kills to go with Caldwell's 13, along with six blocks, and Konow handed out 38 assists.