BOX SCORE

NEW YORK, NY (April 14, 2012) - In what could possibly be their final match of the season, the #8 Vassar men's volleyball dropped a three set decision to #7 Nazareth College in the quarter-final of the United Volleyball Conference(UVC) championship. The Brewers were led by sophomore Joe Pyne with 11 kills.

The loss eliminates the Brewers from contention for the automatic NCAA berth accorded the UVC champion, but the team has a chance at an at-large berth for the inaugural championship tournament. Selections wil be anounced on the selection show to be aired on ncaa.com on Sunday, April 15th, time TBA.

The match was a match-up between the fourth seed Golden Eagles of Nazareth and the fifth seed Brewers. In their first meeting of the year, Nazareth narrowly defeated Vassar in five sets with the fifth going to 16-18. In today's first set the higher seed justified their position, jumping out to a fast start and an early lead of 11-4, a gap the Brewers never really threatened, and would prove the difference in the end 25-18. Vassar didn't play poorly, hitting .207 whle notching 12 kills, but Nazareth was on fire, htting .440 making only two htting errors on 25 attempts to go with 13 kills. They also recorded 4.5  blocks in the first frame. Charlie Caldwell led the Brewers with four kills, while John Konow and Christian La Du each picked up four digs.

The second set began more competitively,featuring a number of long rallies and neither team able to build a lead. That all changed at 15-15 when Nazareth string together two block, an ace and two kills to take a five point lead. It proved the turning point in the set as Vassar never regained momentum and woudl eventually succumb 18-25. Nazareth's Rob Kraft was dominant down the stretch, totaling seven blocks in the set, helping to hold the Brewers to a -.217 hitting percentage.

With their back against the wall and possibly their season on the line, Vassar roared out in the third, taking the early lead and holding it through the early goings until Nazareth tied it for thr first time in the set at 16-16. It would remain tight, the teams trading points until an unfortunate string of Brewer attack errors gave Nazareth their first chance at match point 24-20. The Brewers would block their way out of one - Matt Elgin and Konow teaming up - but a kill would give the Golden Flyers the set and match 25-21.

Serving and blocking were the biggest factors in the match, Nazareth's block accounting for 13.5 compared to Vassar's six. Both teams had some seerving issues, making 11 and 15 respectively, but Nazareth compensated with seven aces while Vassar only had one.

Along with his 11 kills, Pyne added three digs and three blocks. Konow handed out 24 assists while also picking up 10 digs and three blocks. Kraft finished with nine blocks for Nazareth and Billy Gimello had 10 kills.