POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (March 26, 2016) – The Vassar College men's volleyball team punched its ticket to the 2016 United Volleyball Conference Tournament Saturday, knocking off No. 9 Elmira College in four games to seal a spot in the playoff. VC defeated the Soaring Eagles 25-14, 20-25, 25-19 and 25-22 in the opening match of Saturday's home UVC tri-match in Kenyon Hall, and narrowly missed upsetting No. 1 New Paltz in the nightcap, falling in five to the Hawks with scores of 22-25, 25-18, 22-25, 25-18 and 15-7. New Paltz will host the postseason tournament, which will run April 8, 9, 10 across the Hudson River.

Vassar 3, Elmira 1
The big match of the day for Vassar was its opener, as a win against the ninth-ranked Soaring Eagles would firmly entrench VC into a playoff spot without having to worry about other scores or the later match with New Paltz. The Brewers came out strong and used a solid block and superb defense throughout the day to carry them to a huge UVC win.

VC never trailed in the opening set, hitting .462 in the stanza while forcing Elmira (20-8, 2-5 UVC) into nine hitting errors in rolling to an early 1-0 lead. The Soaring Eagles did not go away though, posting a hitting percentage of .435 in the second set while registering a match-best 14 terminations in the set to even the match at one.

In the third stanza, the two teams stayed pretty close through the midway part of the set before Vasar started to pull away thanks to play from sophomore Zechariah Lee and Matthew Knigge. During the run that saw VC turn a 13-all game into a 22-16 lead, Knigge chalked up three kills and Lee had six helpers and two aces as the Brewers captured the third set.

In the fourth game, Vassar led for most of the game, taking as much as a nine-point lead on two occasions before Elmira started its comeback. The Eagles pulled to within two at 23-21 and 24-22, but Mike Ellison of EC posted a service error to send the Brewers to the playoffs.

Senior Reno Kriz had a solid and efficient offensive contest, posting a team-best 11 kills on 22 swings, adding three aces, four blocks and six digs. Knigge posted nine kills on 14 attempts (.500), blocking five attacks, and Lee added 33 assists, four aces and five digs. Quinn Rutledge added six kills and three of Vassar's 10 total blocks on the match, as the Brewers hit 39-16.88 (.261) for the match.

EC's Erik Griffin led all hitters with 19 kills in the loss to Vassar.

New Paltz 3, Vassar 2
In the nightcap, with Vassar playing without the weight of having to beat No. 1 New Paltz to make the tournament, VC nearly became the first NCAA team this year to defeat the Hawks, falling in five long, contested sets.

Like two heavyweight contenders trading punches in the middle of the ring, these two Division III traditional powers went toe-to-toe to the delight of a raucous crowd in Kenyon Hall. Vassar came out full of life in the opening set, taking an 11-5 advantage after a kill from Rutledge. New Paltz rallied from that point, going on a 9-1 run to take a 14-12 lead.

VC continued to trail until 21-18 when George Diehl earned a kill and went back to serve. The freshman would hold that serve for five points, as Vassar turned a three-point deficit into a 23-21 lead. The Hawks made the game 23-22 on a kill from Andy Fishman, but kills from Knigge and Kriz gave VC the early lead.

New Paltz showed the meddle of a championship team in the second set, hitting .444 while never relinquishing the lead in evening the match at two. Vassar would return the favor in the third set, leading from start to finish, clinching the third set on a kill from Kriz to return the lead at two games to one.

In the fourth set, Vassar led twice at 11-10 and 12-11, but a 5-0 run by the Hawks followed by a 6-1 stretch to end the game sent the match to a fifth and final set. In the fifth game, New Paltz hit .545 and forced VC into four errors offensively in earning the thrilling win.

Knigge posted 13 kills and hit .579 for the contest against New Paltz, adding eight assisted blocks as Vassar totaled 12 team rejections. Trey Cimorelli added 12 digs to his ledger after finishing with nine against Elmira, and Lee posted 39 assists, seven digs and two rejections. Diehl also posted eight kills and five total swats for the Brewers.

Kriz totaled 12 kills for Vassar in the loss, and Rutledge and Christina Lizana combined to finish with 11 terminations between the two of them. Lizana added nine digs, and Rutledge also contributed four assisted blocks for VC.

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The Brewers will host New York University this upcoming Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m. in non-conference action in Kenyon Hall.