ERIE, PA (February 20, 2016) – The Vassar College men's volleyball squad, currently ranked No. 10 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association Poll, moved to 11-2 on the season Saturday with a pair of United Volleyball Conference wins over host Penn State-Behrend and Bard College. The Brewers earned a 25-13, 25-16, 25-27 and 25-23 win over the host Lions before topping the Raptors 25-12, 25-12 and 25-16.

Vassar 3, PSU-Behrend 1
The Brewer defense came through in the first match against Behrend totaling 13 blocks on the match while Trey Cimorelli (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park) helped Vassar stifle the Lion's attack from the backline with a match-best 12 digs.

In the opening set, Vassar never trailed as it opened the match on a three-point run, holding PSU-B to .000 hitting in the first game in earning an early lead. Middles Matthew Knigge (New Egypt, NJ/New Egypt) and George Diehl (St. Louis, MO/Lindbergh) each had three kills in the first set for Vassar.

In the second stanza, the Lions led at one point 6-4 but the Brewers notched the next eight points, capped by a kill from Knigge to give the Brewers a six-point advantage at 12-6. VC would cruise though the rest of the game, leading by as many as nine in earning the 25-16 victory. In the set Knigge added five more terminations for VC.

In the third set, Penn State Behrend (2-7, 0-1 UVC) pushed the game to four games as it fended off a pair of match points at 24-23 and 25-24, chalking up back-to-back blocks at 25-all to take the set 27-25. PSU-B hit a match-best .290 in the third game, while Vassar's 59 percent side out rate was the lowest of any set for the Brewers in that match.

In the fourth set, the teams were tied 10 times, the latest coming at 23-23 after a kill by Trenton Munk. Diehl gave Vassar a match-point opportunity, and Reno Kriz (Breinigsville, PA/Parkland) put the match away with a kill on a block error to move VC to 1-1 in the UVC.

Kriz posted a team-best of 15 kills, also adding four aces and eight digs, while Knigge hit .522 (14-2-23) while chalking up nine total rejections. Setter Zechariah Lee (Santa Clarita, CA/Saugus) dished out 34 assists in addition to four digs and five blocks, and Christian Lizana (Dublin, PA/Pennridge) was very strong in three sets of play, adding eight kills and seven digs.

Diehl did not error on any of his 10 attempts, killing five attacks on the match. Vassar hit .292 against PSU-Behrend, which cleaned up 17 service errors from the Brewers.

Vassar 3, Bard 0
In the nightcap, the Brewers moved their win streak to three matches with a comfortable win over their local Hudson River rival. Knigge and sophomore Brian Manley (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park) led the way for Vassar with nine kills, as Vassar held the Raptors (1-11, 0-3 UVC) to -.095 attacking for the match.

The Brewers surrendered just 13 total kills on the match, including three in each of the first two sets in rolling to the conference victory. Knigge chalked up his termination total on 10 swings, while Manley added five digs to his nine finishes. Kriz finished with six kills in two sets of play, marking his first match of the season without double-digit kills.

Every Vassar player that got into the game added at least two digs on the night, led by the match-high 11 from junior Quinn Rutledge (Chesterfield, VA/Cosby). Cimorelli finished with six more digs, and Lee posted 20 assists, six digs and two blocks.

--

Vassar College continues its long road trip Tuesday for a huge conference matchup with the Violets of New York University, as first serve is slated for 7:30 p.m. in the Big Apple.