ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, NY (April 1, 2017) – The No. 3 ranked Vassar College men's volleyball team ran its unbeaten streak to 12 matches Saturday, and in the process clinched hosting duties for the United Volleyball Conference (UVC) playoffs on April 13-15. VC earned the regular season title in the conference with a pair of sweeps, knocking off Penn State-Behrend and Bard College in three games each to finish conference play with a perfect 8-0 mark.

Vassar College will head into the UVC Tournament as the No. 1 seed on Friday, April 14 in Kenyon Hall, and will take on the winner of the No. 4 seed New Paltz and No. 5 seed MIT match scheduled for Thursday, April 13. NYU earned the No. 2 seed in the Tournament, while Stevens Institute of Technology will serve as the No. 3 seed and Nazareth College as the No. 6 seed.

"I think at the beginning of the season the guys knew competing in this conference was going to be very difficult, and that helped them through some of our tougher early-season losses," said head coach Richard Gary. "They knew that conference was where were wanted to make our biggest impact."

"Our goal was to make the conference tournament, and go for the deepest run possible, and the fact that we were able to squeeze out some big wins and host puts us in a great position to achieve that ultimate goal. I could see any of the six teams winning this thing, so every advantage we can get is great. Sleeping in our own beds, playing in our own gym, celebrating with our own fans will be a huge opportunity. Hopefully we can learn a lot and earn an opportunity to take that learning into the NCAA Tournament."

Vassar 3, Penn State-Behrend 0
The Brewers knocked off the Nittany Lions thanks to scores of 25-11, 25-19 and 29-27, as the Brewers forced PSUB into negative hitting for the match thanks to 13 total blocks. The difference for Vassar College in the first match was the play off senior co-captain Christian Lizana, as he posted 12 kills and 15 digs, along with two assisted blocks to lead the way.

Vassar was never really threatened in the opening set, as VC sided out at an 81 percent clip while forcing the Nittany Lions (11-13, 2-6 UVC) into just a 36 percent side-out ratio to cruise to the opening set victory. In the second set, the two teams battled back and forth as there was nine tie score and five lead changes, but VC used a 6-1 run midway through the period to push forward for the 2-0 lead.

The third set was nip and tuck the whole way, as Behrend won six of the first seven points of the game to jump out and front. Vassar responded with a spurt of its own, going on a 9-1 run to make the score 10-7 in favor of the Brewers. Junior Brian Manley had two kills and two blocks during the run.

Penn State-Behrend would climb back into it and had two set points at 24-22, but Vassar got three consecutive kills from freshman Yoni Auerbach to fend off the Lions. The two teams would trade points over the next six points before Lizana hammered down back-to-back points to give clinch the regular season title for VC.

Auerbach finished with nine kills for the Brewers, while junior Matthew Knigge was perfect offensively with seven kills on seven attempts. Junior Zechariah Lee was everywhere once again for VC with 36 assists, seven digs and eight total blocks, and co-captain Trey Cimorelli added to his NCAA active career digs lead with 10 more against Behrend. Sophomore George Diehl added five kills, six digs and three blocks as well for the Brewers, who hit .216 (40-19-97) for the match.

Vassar 3, Bard 0
The Brewers spread the offense around in the second match of the day, as all but one player had a kill in the match with Bard. Lizana finished with eight kills to pace the Brewers, and Auerbach added seven terminations along with seven digs. Cimorelli finished with a team-leading nine digs, adding a kill as well, and freshman Kevin Ross had eight digs and six winners.

VC finished with 7.5 blocks in the match, adding 33 kills after hitting .118 for the match. Sophomore Daniel Halberg dished out 23 assists, posting three assisted blocks and seven digs as well. Freshman Zach Bygall and Diehl posted four kills as well.

"Today was too great matches to finish out the conference schedule," said head coach Richard Gary. "A nail biter with a very strong Penn State Behrend, including that crazy third set, and a very fun and competitive match with Bard. Both teams are well coached, but I think our guys were really feeling that confidence of having won some tough battles this season, and that helped us stay calm in key moments."

--

The Brewers will be back in action next Saturday at 11 a.m., hosting Hunter College and Alvernia University for Senior Day in Kenyon Hall.