Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

SPRINGFIELD, MA (January 31, 2015) – The Vassar College men's volleyball team opened action Saturday afternoon with a battle at No. 3 Springfield College, dropping a three-set match to the host Pride in Blake Arena. The Brewers would finish their day though by breezing past Elms College 3-0 in non-conference action, earning a 25-11, 25-15, 25-19 victory over the Blazers.

No. 3 Springfield 3, Vassar 0
Springfield held Vassar College to just .029 on its attacks Saturday afternoon, as the Pride picked up a three-set win with scores of 25-17, 25-14 and 25-23. The hosts hit over .500 in each of the opening two sets, posting just four errors over the first 35 attacks on the day. Vassar held the Pride in check in the third set, and tied the final set at 22 late in the game, but the hosts ended the match by earning three of the final four points.

Sophomore Christian Lizana (Dublin, PA/Pennridge) led the Brewers offensively with seven kills, posting one of the team's two service aces, while Matthew Knigge (New Egypt, NJ/New Egypt) had a team-best hitting percentage of .182 to go with four kills and five rejections. Junior Reno Kriz (Breinigsville, PA/Parkland) and sophomore Quinn Rutledge (Chesterfield, VA/Cosby) each had four kills apiece, while tying for the team-high of three digs each.

Freshman setter Zechariah Lee (Santa Clarita, CA/Saugus) divvied out 19 assists and registered five assisted blocks for the Brewers. Sean Zuvich paced Springfield with 11 kills, and Angel Perez finished with seven kills and a team-high six digs for the Pride. Keaton Pieper added 30 assists for SC, which finished with a 35-11-64 hitting rate (.375) in the match.

Vassar 3, Elms 0
The Brewers were never tested in the nightcap, jumping out to large leads in each of the first two games while stifling the Elms offense into hitting negative in the match. Vassar only trailed for two points in the third set, and used a seven-point serving run by Rutledge in that game to pull away for the win.

Knigge posted six kills on nine attempts for VC against Elms, while Kriz played just the first set and finished two of his three attacks. Freshman Jorge Rivera (San Juan, PR/Cupeyville) chalked up four kills, and fellow freshman Brian Manley (Buffalo, NY/Orchard Park) totaled a season-high five kills. Rutledge had a team-high eight digs, and Lee finished with 24 assists in the victory. The Brewers added eight total blocks as a team, led by the five assisted rejections from Knigge and the five total blocks (one solo, four assisted) from Lee.

--
The Brewers will open United Volleyball Conference play this Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. with a road tussle at Bard College.