POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (March 24, 2018) -- The No. 12 Vassar College men's volleyball team battled back from a two-set deficit, rallying to stun No. 5 SUNY New Paltz in five sets Saturday afternoon in United Volleyball Conference (UVC) with scores of 13-25, 24-26, 26-24, 25-23 and 15-10.

With the win, the Brewers moved to 15-6 on the season overall and 5-1 in the UVC, while staying in the race to host the UVC Tournament for the second straight year. Things didn't look great early on though, as the Hawks (15-6, 6-2 UVC) controlled the opening set by hitting .450 while VC attacked at a negative rate (-.087). 

Vassar started to play better in the second set, and had a set point at 24-23 of the second game, but New Paltz's fended off Vassar's try to clinch the game with a kill. The Hawks kept the pressure on, getting a kill from Ryan Cole before benefiting from an attack error from Vassar to take a 2-0 match lead. 

The Brewers jumped out quickly in the third set, winning five of the opening seven points, but the visiting Hawks powered back with a 6-0 run to force a timeout from Vassar head coach Richard Gary. The timeout settled VC down, and Vassar responded with a 6-1 run of its own to regain an 11-9 edge. The set remained close but Vassar powered forward to take a 23-19 lead. New Paltz wouldn't go away, posting the next five points to regain a 24-23 lead.

With their backs against the wall, VC pushed back to pick up the final three points of the set to send the game to a fourth set. In the fourth, New Paltz led for nearly the entire set until the Brewers tied the game at 18 thanks to an assisted block by Ryan Duchemin and Matthew Knigge. The Hawks led by two at 23-21, but VC once again showed some fight by posting the final four points of the fourth set including getting back-to-back- blocks from Knigge and junior George Diehl to send the game to the fifth set. 

In the fifth set, the momentum continued to sway onto the side of the Brewers, as VC earned seven of the opening 10 points highlighted by two kills and an ace from freshman Jefferson Waters. New Paltz pulled to within two twice, but Knigge made the score 14-10 late and Vassar completed the comeback with an assisted rejection from Duchemin and senior setter Zechariah Lee.

In a rivalry that has been as strong as ever in recent years, Vassar now holds a 27-26 all-time edge over the Hawks. Knigge finished with a team-high 19 kills while hitting .220, adding seven assisted blocks and five digs. Sophomore Kevin Ros chalked up eight kills and three digs, while Diehl and Waters each totaled seven terminations for the hosts. Diehl added eight digs and four blocks to his ledger, and Lee finished with 36 assists, two aces and a team-best nine digs. 

The Brewers hit .116 for the match, but finished with 11 blocks to just the four from New Paltz. The two teams combined for 44 service errors on the match and 60 attack errors. The win for Vassar was its second this month over the No. 5 ranked team in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll, as the Brewers topped UC-Santa Cruz back on March 3. The victory also was Vassar's sixth straight, the longest of the 2018 campaign.

Nick Smith led the way with 20 kills for New Paltz, while Cole finished with 15 kills and seven digs. Robert Nolan had a match-best 10 digs, and Matthew Grace finished with 41 assists and four defensive saves as well. 

Vassar will be right back in action Sunday afternoon for UVC action, taking on The Sage Colleges in play from Kenyon Hall at 2:30 p.m.