Box Score

HOBOKEN, NJ (April 10, 2015) – The Vassar College men's volleyball team finished a very strong bounce-back season in 2015, falling to third-seeded and No. 6 ranked Nazareth College 3-0 Friday evening in the quarterfinals of the United Volleyball Conference (UVC) Tournament in action from Stevens Institute of Technology and Canavan Arena. The Brewers (18-13) fell to the Golden Flyers with scores of 25-22, 25-23 and 27-25.

The first set was one of two halves, as the Brewers dominated the first section but the powerful Golden Flyers came back to seize control and eventually the set. Vassar led by as many as six points on two occasions, the latest at 10-4 after a kill by freshman middle hitter Matthew Knigge (New Egypt, NJ/New Egypt).

The Golden Flyers began to creep back into the match, eventually tying the game at 14 after a kill by Luke Lawatsch. A 5-0 run over the middle of the set gave Nazareth a 17-14 lead, and the Golden Flyers pushed their lead to as much as four at 21-17. Vassar trimmed the Naz lead to a pair three times, but could get no closer as Lawatsch ended the game with his fourth kill of the game.

The second set matched the excitement of the first game, as the game was tied up 18 times during the period. With the score 20-20, a kill by Grant Levermore and an ace by Lawatsch pushed Nazareth ahead by two, but a kill by freshman Jorge Rivera (San Juan, PR/Cupeyville) pulled Vassar to within one at 23-22. Service errors by both sides on their next attempts made the score 24-23, and Chris Mahan put the Golden Flyers up in the match 2-0.

Rivera was strong in the second set for the Brewers, finishing five of his seven attacks in the period, while sophomore Christian Lizana (Dublin, PA/Pennridge) added five digs off the bench. Vassar hit .429 in the second set, but 16 kills by the Golden Flyers were too much to overcome.

The third saw the Golden Flyers lead from start to finish, scoring the opening four points of the stanza. Vassar was able to battle back slowly in the period, eventually tying the third set at 23-23 on a kill by Knigge. The teams exchanged points over the next four, but the Golden Flyers ended the match on kills by Cord and Levermore.  Nazareth will take on second-seed and No. 3 ranked New Paltz Saturday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. in Canavan Arena.

Rivera finished the match with a team-high 10 kills Friday night, ending the year with 253 terminations on the season. The freshman's total was the most for a first-year player since now junior Reno Kriz (Breinigsville, PA/Parkland) had 277 back in 2013.

Knigge chalked up four kills and four total blocks against Nazareth, as three of the rejections came on the assist. For the year, Knigge finished with 88 assisted blocks, which was just one shy of the single-season record of 89 set back in 2000 by Dave Paine.

Kriz also posted seven kills in the match, and enters his senior season with 967 for his career. The seven terminations moved him past former All-American Matt Elgin for seventh place all-time in kills as well. Sophomore Trey Cimorelli (Orchard Park, NJ/Orchard Park) posted a team-high 10 digs, and freshman Zechariah Lee (Santa Clarita, CA/Saugus) posted 25 assists, nine digs and three total blocks.

The story of the game was Vassar's inability to get points off of aces, as the UVC leading service game for VC posted just one ace on the match. The Brewers hit .207 in the match (29-12-82), and out-blocked the Golden Flyers 6.0-2.0.

Lawatsch and Levermore each had 10 kills to pace the Golden Flyers (27-5), while Jake Kemp posted 30 assists and six digs. Cory Randolph tied for the match-high with 10 digs, and Cord finished with seven terminations on 11 attempts. Naz attached at a .271 percentage against Vassar, posting 41 for the evening.

"I'm happy with the overall way that we played," said head coach Rob Wolter. "It's a little frustrating to not take a set, but to lose by only seven total points against the sixth-ranked team in the country was encouraging. It's just sad that it's over."

"Being able to play in the UVC Tournament gives us experience as to what it would be like to play in the NCAA Tournament. The competition in this league is so good that getting into the playoffs is an accomplishment and one we can build on for next season."