ALBANY, NY (March 2, 2016) – The No. 12 Vassar College men's volleyball team shook off a slow start Wednesday evening at The Sage Colleges to rally and defeat the host Gators 3-1 in non-conference play from the Kahl Gymnasium on the Albany campus. The Brewers earned the win with scores of 24-26, 25-20, 25-22 and 25-15.

The opening stanza was back-and-forth the entire way through, as the lead changed hands five times while sporting 16 tie scores. The Brewers (13-4) had match point at 24-23, but the host Gators (8-14) chalked up the next three points to earn the set 26-24. Senior Reno Kriz posted six kills in the opening game.

The second game saw a quick start by the Brewers, who opened up a 15-4 lead early, capped by a pair of back-to-back terminations from freshman George Diehl. The Gators slowly climbed back into the game, trimming VC's lead down to three twice but Vassar was able to finish the game on a kill by Trey Cimorelli to even the match at one.

In the third game and with the score tied at 10, Sage surged ahead and led by as many as four at 18-14 following a kill from Casey Fitzpatrick. Vassar scored the next four points to deadlock the match at 18, but the hosts once again posted three of the next four points to regain a 21-19 edge. The Brewers would tough up down the stretch of the third set, winning the set on a block by Cimorelli and Knigge.

In the fourth set, Vassar's offense came to life, chalking up 13 kills on 20 swings while posting just one error to roll to the match victory. Kriz finished with a team and match-high 19 kills for the Brewers, adding three service aces and seven digs. Junior Quinn Rutledge saw action in three sets and made it count, hitting .438 with 10 kills and four digs.

Diehl posted nine kills for the Brewers, and Knigge added six kills and seven blocks. Cimorelli, who was asked to set due to an illness to regular starting setter Zechariah Lee, was solid with 30 helpers, six digs and six blocks. Before tonight, Cimorelli had one total block in his three year career. Christian Lizana added a team-best seven digs for the Brewers, and Erik Halberg supplemented the offense with three aces, five kills and three assisted rejections.

The Brewers posted a team hitting percentage on the evening of .265, chalking up 52 kills in the process. Vassar also added 11 team blocks in the match, the most in a match for VC since posting 13 February 20 against Penn State-Behrend.

The Gators were led by the 17 finishes from Ryan Guyton, and Fitzpatrick finished with 31 assists and six digs. Bailey Cecchi also posted eight kills for the Gators, who finished with 38 total terminations and 24 errors for a percentage of .136.

Vassar College will be back in action this weekend in a huge United Volleyball Conference tri-match at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Vassar will take on No. 6 Nazareth College at 1:30 p.m. before battling the host Engineers at 4 p.m. in Cambridge, MA.