Box Score

NEW YORK (March 4, 2015) – The Vassar College men's volleyball team posted a season-best 71 kills Wednesday evening, outlasting Hunter College 3-2 in non-conference action from the Hunter Sportsplex. The Brewers won with scores of 20-25, 25-19, 25-17, 23-25 and 15-12.

The story of the match was the offensive outburst by the Brewers, who tallied the most kills in a match since January 27, 2010, when Vassar posted 82 against New Paltz in a 3-2 win over the Hawks. Leading the effort for the Brewers was junior Reno Kriz (Breinigsville, PA/Parkland), who chalked up 25 kills on 42 attacks, hitting at a very strong .476. In all, four players had double-digit kills on the night.

In the opening set, the two teams went back and forth, as the game featured 11 ties throughout. With the score 19-17 late in the game, Hunter tallied five straight points to take a 22-19 lead. A kill by Quinn Rutledge (Chesterfield, VA/Cosby) ended the stretch for Hunter (11-8), but the Hawks responded with three straight to earn the early 1-0 edge.

The Brewers (11-8) evened the match in the second frame, as the squad connected on a match-high .433 hitting percentage, leading for start to finish in the stanza. Rutledge and Kriz each posted four kills in the frame, as VC chalked up 16 terminations in the game.

VC took its first lead of the match in the third set, as the Brewers earned a commanding 25-17 win. After Hunter earned the first point of the game, Vassar rattled off nine of the next 11 points and cruised to the win. Kriz added four more kills in the set, while Matthew Knigge (New Egypt, NJ/New Egypt) upped his match kill total to 10 with four in the frame.

The host Hawks wouldn't go away though, evening the match at two games apiece in the fourth set as they hit a team-best .371 to force a fifth game. In the set win for HC, the Brewers looked like they were going to take over, leading by four at 13-9. Hunter slowly crawled back into the frame, and eventually took the lead back at 17-16, an advantage it would hold onto for the rest of the set.

The final period though was all Brewers, and more so, all Kriz. The junior right side tallied a whopping seven kills in the final game including helping Vassar overcome an 11-7 deficit in the fifth. With VC down four late, Kriz sandwiched a pair of freshman Jorge Rivera (San Juan, PR/Cupeyville) terminations with two of his own to pull VC even at 11.

After the Hawks pulled back ahead at 12-11, Kriz answered with a kill, followed by a block by Kriz and Knigge to put Vassar up 13-12. Kriz tallied his final finish of the night to get Vassar to match point, and junior Erik Halberg (Newark, DE/Salesianum) ended the night with a walk-off ace to give the Brewers the win.

The 25 kills for Kriz were his most since he chalked up 26 in a win over Division I Sacred Heart University last season. The junior now has 874 kills in his career, which is 10^th all-time at Vassar. He is looking to become just the seventh player in school history to earn 1,000 kills in a career. He also posted five assisted blocks as well.

Kriz wasn't the only story on a night of many highlights, as Rutledge finished with a career-high 14 kills, adding four digs. Knigge hit .450 on the night, chalking up 12 kills on 20 attempts while blocking seven attacks, and Rivera ended the night with 11 kills, five digs and an attacking percentage of .455.

Halberg posted three total blocks and three service aces, while freshman setter Zechariah Lee (Santa Clarita, CA/Saugus) chalked up 10 digs and a career-high 54 assists on the night. The 54 assists were the most for a Brewer since now senior Colin White-Dzuro (Toronto, Ontario, Canada/Royal St. George) handed out 54 last year against PSU-Behrend.

Sophomore Trey Cimorelli (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park) had one of his best games of his career, finishing with a season-best 17 digs and a career-high eight assists. The 17 digs were the fourth-most in a match for Cimorelli in his career. Vassar posted an attacking clip of 71-23-151, hitting at a .318 rate Wednesday.

Steven Tarquinio led Hunter with 18 kills, while Ben Crusinberry added 10 kills and seven digs. Colin Horn led the Hawks with 16 digs, and Gary Anderson, Jr. dished out 45 assists.

The Brewers will play host to No. 5 New Paltz and No. 8 Nazareth College this Saturday morning in an United Volleyball Conference tri-match in Kenyon Hall at 11 a.m. in Poughkeepsie, NY.