UTICA, NY (January 20, 2018) -- The No. 4-ranked Vassar College men's volleyball team finished action Saturday afternoon at the 2018 SUNY Poly Invitational, dropping its opening match to No. 10 Wentworth Institute of Technology in five sets. Vassar rebounded though in the final match of the tournament to take down Johnson & Wales University in four sets. 

No. 10 Wentworth 3, No. 4 Vassar 2
The Brewers took an early lead on the Leopards, capturing the first two sets to come to within a set of a win over ranked Wentworth. WIT would battle back into the match to send it the distance, and posted a 15-12 win in the fifth set to complete the comeback victory. VC dropped the match 20-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-18 and 15-12. 

Senior middle hitter Matthew Knigge finished the opening match of the day with 19 kills on 38 swings, chalking up two aces and two assisted blocks to lead the way for the Brewers. Freshman middle Ryan Duchemin was solid with eight terminations on his 13 swings, while sophomore outside hitter Kevin Ros added seven kills and six digs. 

Junior right side George Diehl contributed a team-best nine digs, while senior setter Zechariah Lee chalked up two kills, 39 assists, two aces and four digs. Freshman libero Garth Verdeflor also posted seven digs for the Brewers, who posted a .189 hitting percentage on the day while recording 48 kills for the match. 

No. 4 Vassar 3, Johnson & Wales 1
The Brewers again jumped out on its opponent 2-0, and this time was able to close out the match with an emphatic 25-18 win in the fourth set to pick up a 25-21, 26-24, 22-25, 25-18 win over the Wildcats. 

Diehl finished with 10 kills for the Brewers in 20 swings, adding five digs and two blocks in the victory. Knigge tacked on nine kills and seven assisted rejections, while Ros finished with six terminations, five aces and seven digs. 

Verdeflor posted a career-best nine digs in the match to lead all Brewers, while sophomore Yoni Auerbach hammered down a team-leading 11 kills for Vassar with two blocks. Lee finished with 36 assists, but also filled the stat sheet with two kills, five aces, seven digs and six assisted blocks. Duchemin added seven kills and four aces as well for Vassar, which finished with 16 service aces for the match, a season-best.

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Vassar (2-2) will head back on the road for another match this upcoming Friday, January 26, taking on Neumann University in Reading, PA at Alvernia University in non-conference action.