POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (February 10, 2017) – The Vassar College men's volleyball team posted 87 total kills Friday evening, as the Brewers (8-5) opened their home slate with a pair of non-conference wins in day one of the 2017 Vassar Invitational. VC defeated Johnson & Wales in three games with scores of 25-14, 25-16 and 25-12, while defeating Stevenson University 25-21, 25-17, 24-26 and 25-13.
 
Vassar 3, Johnson & Wales 0
The Brewers dominated at the net all match, hitting .343 while holding Johnson & Wales University to -.029 hitting as Vassar breezed to the opening win of the day. Vassar picked up the victory with scores of 25-14, 25-16 and 25-12. Much of the work done by the home team was due to its size advantage defensively, as the squad combined for 10 total blocks on the match.
 
Vassar also sided out a very strong 81 percent clip for the contest, while chalking up six service aces to just the pair for Johnson & Wales. In the first set, Vassar fell behind 1-0 but rattled off seven straight points, five compliments of either a kill from junior Matthew Knigge or an assisted block by the Preseason All-American.
 
The Wildcats (4-7) would trim into the lead, getting to five at 9-4 but that was as close as the visitors would get, as VC connected on 11 kills to pull away. Once again in the second set, the Wildcats scored the first point but VC quickly regained the lead and kept it, extending the edge out to 9-4 after three kills from senior co-captain Christian Lizana.
 
VC would continue to up its lead, hitting a match-best .385 in the period to take a commanding 2-0 edge in the contest. In the final set, JWU took another 1-0 and the set remained close, with the score being tied at five after a kill from Alex Seda from JWU. That's when the Brewers took off, going on an 18-3 run to effectively end the match. Within that spurt, Vassar chalked up a 10-0 run, spurred by three rejections. The match would finish up at 24-12, as junior Brian Manley hammered down the assist from Daniel Halberg for the win.
 
Lizana finished with a match-best 10 kills, hitting .500 on 16 attempts, while Knigge posted eight kills on 12 swings. Knigge also added two service aces, three digs and six assisted blocks to his ledger. Senior co-captain Trey Cimorelli was strong once again, as he posted a game-high 11 digs, and Zechariah Lee dished out 26 assists while assisting on three blocks. Freshman Ghali Khalil also added his first collegiate kill in the third set.
 
Vassar posted 35 total kills for the match, erring only 11 times in 70 attempts. Johnson & Wales got a team-best four kills from Matthew McCarthy. Cameron Ponce also added 13 assists and eight digs for JWU.

Vassar 3, Stevenson 1
The Brewers bested their performance from the Johnson & Wales match, but hitting a season-best .414 in front of a raucous crowd in the Athletics & Fitness Center. The opening set was close during the early going, with the last tie of the set coming at 13 after a Vassar service error. From that point, the Brewers chalked up six of the next seven points to take an 18-14 lead. Stevenson pulled to within two at 21-19, but Vassar was able to clinch the set at 24-21 thanks to a Lizana kill. VC hit .462 in the stanza, hammering down 15 winners.
 
The second set saw some back and forth runs, as Stevenson (8-6) roared back from a 7-4 deficit to take a 9-7 lead after an ace by Alex Klunk, forcing a timeout from Vassar. Following the stoppage, the hosts roared back with a 7-2 run to regain the lead. VC slowly built on its advantage up to as much as eight at 24-16 before earning the game on a kill from Knigge.
 
The Brewers would drop the third set despite hitting .323 in the period, but came out in the fourth set with a vengeance offensively. Vassar hit .522 in the fourth stanza, a season-best for any single set this year, and forced Stevenson into -.125 hitting to run away with the match-clinching game.
 
Lizana was great all day, and that continued in the second match, as he posted 14 kills on 22 attempts, hitting .545. Not to be outdone, Knigge posted 13 kills while hitting .632 for the match, adding four assisted blocks. Sophomore George Diehl contributed nine kills, three digs and four blocks, and freshman Yoni Auerbach also was stellar with nine terminations and seven total rejections.
 
Cimorelli contributed with another match-high of nine digs, and Lee handed out 45 helpers while adding four kills and five defensive saves. "I think that our guys really brought it today," said Cimorelli. "It was really great to play in front of a good home crowd, and get two real solid wins today."
 
"I'm really pleased with the focus of our guys, I think both teams were really tough…it was really good for us to come out and work on consistency of focus," said head coach Richard Gary, who earned his first two home victories as top boss at VC. "Two pieces we were trying to get better at were blocking and serving…the blocking was definitely working for us."
 
"I thought the fans were a lot of fun, we definitely owe a debt of gratitude for them bringing so much energy. It was good to let the guys feed off of and find a good zone to play in," said Gary.
 
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Vassar will finish play in the 2017 Vassar Invitational by taking on Ramapo College tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. in the AFC, before taking on the Dolphins of the College of Mount Saint Vincent at 1 p.m. in more non-conference play. Both matches will be live streamed along with live stats at www.vassarathletics.com.