NEW PALTZ, NY (April 8, 2016) – The No. 8 Vassar College men's volleyball team fended off a late New York University rally to knock off the No. 12 Violets in five games in the quarterfinals of the United Volleyball Conference Tournament in action from the Hawk Center Friday evening on the campus of New Paltz.

The No. 6 seeded Brewers (24-6) will now face the second-seeded Ducks of Stevens Institute of Technology in the UVC Tournament semifinals Saturday afternoon at 5 p.m., as the win Friday evening for Vassar marked the second victory in the UVC playoffs in program history. Before the five-set win over NYU, Vassar's previous lone win in the UVC Tournament came in 2013, which also came over the Violets.

Friday's win, which came with scores of 25-10, 25-21, 19-25, 23-25 and 15-11, was not without its share of exciting moments and drama throughout the contest. In the opening set, Vassar scored the first eight points of the match, as Matthew Knigge blocked two attempts and posted one kill in the run to get the Brewers going. NYU (14-14) climbed to within five at 12-7, but VC dominated at the net, holding the Violets to just four kills and -.120 hitting in taking the 1-0 match lead.

The second set was much more competitive, as it featured three lead changes and eight tie scores. The Violets scored three of the first four points in the stanza, but Vassar rattled off six straight to force a timeout by NYU. The set remained close throughout until 21-all, when Vassar scored the final four points, two compliments of a kill and block from Christian Lizana to take a two-game edge on NYU.

NYU wouldn't go away though, posting a match-best 14 kills in the third set while hitting .321 to pick up the 25-19 third set win. In the fourth set, neither team could separate as the game had 16 tie scores and eight lead changes. VC held a 23-21 lead late in the set, but NYU came alive with the final four points of the set to deadlock the match at two games apiece.

In the final set, Vassar's offense returned to its fine form, totaling 11 kills and just one error on 17 attempts. With the score 6-5 in favor of NYU in the race to 15, VC posted three straight points, two on finishes from Lizana and senior Reno Kriz. Vassar built its lead up to four at 12-8, thanks to a termination by Kriz, causing NYU to take a timeout. The Violets posted back-to-back points, but Kriz made the score 14-11 and junior Quinn Rutledge and Knigge assisted on a block to win it for VC.

Kriz chalked up a team-best 16 kills, adding 10 digs for his fourth double-double of the season. Knigge was a terror at the net as usual for the Brewers, as the All-UVC First-Team middle added 12 kills and 10 total blocks. Lizana also added 12 kills and five digs for the Brewers, who posted 55 terminations and 17 rejections as a team.

The Brewers hit .209 on the night (55-26-139), as Rutledge was strong with eight kills, six digs and three assisted blocks. Setter Zechariah Lee added 46 assists on the night, blocking seven Violet attempts, and junior Trey Cimorelli added nine digs as well for VC. Freshman George Diehl also had six kills and three rejections as well. The 17 blocks for VC tied for the fourth-most in a match ever at Vassar.

Chase Klein had 16 kills to lead the way for NYU, while Colin LaPorte added 10 finishes for NYU. Derrick Chiu posted 39 assists and 11 digs for the Violets, and Benjamin Oxnard also finished with 13 digs to lead all players.

Fourth-seed Nazareth College topped fifth-seed Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the other match of the night, as the Golden Eagles will advance to take on hosts New Paltz Saturday in the other semifinal. Sunday's UVC final will be hosted at 2 p.m. in New Paltz.