Vassar Postgame Press Conference

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (April 21, 2018) -- The No. 5 Vassar College men's volleyball earned a hard-fought 3-1 victory over No. 4 Kean University 28-26, 24-26, 25-20, 25-22 in the 2018 NCAA Tournament quarterfinals Saturday from Kenyon Hall in thrilling fashion in front of a capacity crowd. With the win, the Brewers (23-7) advanced to their first NCAA Tournament semifinals in program history, and their third national semifinal appearance. 

The Brewers will now move on to take on No. 1 Springfield College next weekend at Carthage College in Kenosha, WI in the NCAA Semifinals. Springfield knocked off Lancaster Bible College Saturday in three sets. 

The atmosphere in Kenyon Hall Saturday was electric from the first serve Saturday, as Kean came into the match with a 28-match win streak and was feeling great after a solid 3-1 victory over St. Joseph's College-Long Island Friday. 

In the opening set, Vassar came out on fire by scoring the first five points, capped by a kill from senior Matthew Knigge. Kean rallied back into the match and eventually tied the set at 19-all after a kill from Jared Watner. VC tallied three of the next four points to force a timeout from Kean, but the Cougars came out of the stoppage with back-to-back points to tie it at 22. 

Vassar posted back-to-back points to make the score 24-22, but Kean rallied back with three straight points to earn a 25-24 lead and earn its first set point after an error from VC. VC's Kevin Ros posted a kill to fend off set point, and senior Zechariah Lee also helped fight off the Cougars with another set point to make the score 26-26. 

The Brewers were able to clinch the set with back-to-back kills from George Diehl and Knigge, as VC took the opening set 28-26. In the second set, Kean rallied from being down 19-16, as Shayron Taylor chalked up four kills over the final half of the set to help even the match at one set apiece. 

In the third set, Vassar hit .407 for the game, and had to fight off a late rally from the Cougars to earn a 25-20 win in the set. Knigge posted nine kills on 13 swings in the stanza, while VC forced Kean into .176 hitting by getting hands on a lot of the attacks Kean was throwing at the Brewers. 

In the fourth, Vassar trailed 17-12 after a kill by Kean's Jay Bynum, but Diehl started the comeback with a kill to make the score 17-13. Junior Daniel Halberg checked in and started a 7-0 run with solid serving, running a five-point deficit into a 19-17 lead after a block by Lee and sophomore Zach Bygall. 

With the score 21-18, VC and Kean alternated points the rest of the way, earning the win on a service error to earn their spot in the NCAA semifinals. Knigge finished with 21 kills on 49 attempts, hitting .292 to go with seven digs and seven assisted kills. Lee added 45 assists, three kills, four blocks (two solo), and Diehl chalked up a double-double of 10 kills and 12 digs. Kevin Ros also contributed 11 digs and seven kills for VC, who out-blocked Kean 14.5-6.0. 

Taylor finished with 21 kills to lead the Cougars (34-3), and Ian Capp posted 52 assists and nine digs in the loss.