POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (March 24. 2015) – The Vassar College men's volleyball team (13-11, 1-4 UVC) travels to New York City to take on Brooklyn College in a non-conference match on Thursday. The two teams will square off at 6 p.m at the West Quad Center.
 
Game Details
Opponent: at Brooklyn (0-24, 0-12 CUNYAC)
Links:  (Brooklyn Men's Volleyball Homepage) (Roster) (Stats) (Schedule)
Site: Brooklyn, New York
Facility: West Quad Center
Date: March 26, 2015
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Twitter Coverage: (@VassarAthletics) (@VassarMensVB)
 
What to Look For
This will be Vassar's first match in 12 days, as the Brewers had a week off for spring break. With three huge conference games in the next week, including two on Saturday against Penn State Behrend and No. 1 Stevens Institute of Technology, Vassar is hoping to get back to the form that saw the team upset then-No. 13 MIT two weekends ago. The Brewers will look to gain momentum from this game heading into this weekend, where they can clinch a spot in the UVC playoffs.
 
A Look at the Bulldogs (0-24, 0-12 CUNYAC)
Brooklyn has had a tough season thus far, though the Brewers should not underestimate their opponent. The Bulldogs have won just one set this season, losing in four against Lehman. Since then, Brooklyn has been swept by their last 11 opponents. This past week, the team fell in three sets to CCNY, Baruch, and Medgar Evers. Besides Vassar, this week Brooklyn takes on Hunter on Tuesday, before rematches against Medgar Evers and CCNY on Saturday.
 
Looking at their last three matches, the Bulldogs are led on offense by senior middle hitter Vaughn Ford, who totaled 11 kills, including seven against Medgar Evers. Ford is followed by sophomore outside hitter Shawn Varghese with nine kills. Varghese also had seven kills against Medgar Evers, hitting a team-high .333. The offense was run by freshman setter Yeiky Rivera, who totaled 13 assists in the three contests. On defense, Ford and Varghese led the team with 18 and 15 digs, respectively, with Ford recording a team-high 10 digs against CCNY.
 
Potential Starting Lineup: OH – Shawn Varghese, OH – Moaz Ali Choudhary, MH – Vaughn Ford, MH – Ian Miranda, S – Yeiky Rivera, S – Dickson Feng
 
Against Brooklyn All-Time
The two teams have only met one time in program history, with Vassar winning in three sets on April 5, 2014.
 
Mighty Middle
Freshman middle hitter Matthew Knigge (New Egypt, NJ/New Egypt) was unstoppable in Vassar's two wins over Endicott and MIT, totaling 25 kills on a .579 hitting percentage. On the season, Knigge is currently fourth in the UVC with a .393 hitting percentage, and is also sixth in the conference with 1.03 blocks per set, while also earning United Volleyball Conference Rookie of the Week honors twice. 
 
20-20
Freshman outside hitter Jorge Rivera (San Juan, PR/Cupeyville) had a break out weekend for the Brewers, becoming the first freshman in Vassar history to record 20 kills in back-to-back matches against MIT and Lasell. Rivera is currently second on the team with 193 kills on the season.
 
Vital Hitter
Sophomore outside hitter Quinn Rutledge (Chesterfield, VA/Cosby) was instrumental in the upset victory over MIT, recording a career-high 19 kills on a career-high 45 swings, hitting .267 on the match. Rutledge followed that up with 10 kills against Lasell, and is currently fourth on the team with 125 total kills.
 
Trey Songs
Sophomore libero Trey Cimorelli (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park) came up huge with a season-high 18 digs against MIT, with many coming at crucial points at the end of the match. Cimorelli added 12 more digs against Lasell, and is currently fourth in the UVC with 2.54 digs per set.
 
Dishing Out Delight
Freshman setter Zechariah Lee (Santa Clarita, CA/Saugus) dished out a career-high 71 assists, and tied his career high with 11 digs against MIT. Lee is currently fourth in the UVC with 9.22 assists per set, and is still first in the conference with 0.75 aces per game.
 
Nearing 1,000
Junior Reno Kriz (Breinigsville, PA/Parkland) is currently sitting with 921 kills for his career, and needs to average just over 13 terminations per match to get to the 1,000 kill mark before the end of the regular season.
 
Up Next
Vassar travels to Hoboken, NJ for two huge conference matchups against Penn State-Behrend and No. 1 Stevens this coming Saturday, before wrapping up its conference slate against Bard College on Wednesday, April 1.