POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – After falling behind 0-2 in the opening sets, the No. 5 Vassar men's volleyball team (10-4, 3-0 UVC) fought back with three-straight set wins to down No. 14 St. John Fisher 3-2 on Friday evening. The Cardinals (11-2, 0-1 UVC) took the first two sets 25-23 and 28-26, and then Vassar won 25-17, 25-18, and 15-10.

Four Brewers notched double-digit kills, with senior Kevin Ros (Bridgewater, NJ) leading the way with 15. Andrew Kim (Ranch Santa Margarita, CA) and Gavin van Beveren (Alpharetta, GA) tacked on 14 each, while Jefferson Waters (Hummelstown, PA) knocked in ten. First-year Steven Koja (Temecula, CA) dished out a game-high 48 assists and made a career-high 14 digs.

Vassar struggled to hit in the first two sets, going .029 in the first and .137 percent in the second. Despite that, the Brewers kept the game close. The opening set went back-and-forth until a 6-0 Cardinals' run gave St. John Fisher ananan 18-13 lead. A Vassar timeout followed, and a Waters kill spurred a 4-1 to cut the lead to two. Two kills by Ryan Duchemin (Maitland, FL) made it 23-24, but the Cardinals' Josh Bigford knocked in the set point.

St. John Fisher appeared to control the second, jumping out to a 7-4 advantage. Duchemin and Ros sent in back-to-back kills, and a Duchemin service ace tied the set 9-9. A 5-1 Cardinals' run ensued to push the lead to 12-15. The Brewers eventually tied it 19-19 before a 4-0 St. John Fisher run. Vassar fought back after a Jordan Klembczyk (Penfield, NY) ace rallied the Brewers to take a 25-24 lead. With the set tied 26-26, St. John Fisher tallied the final two points.

Vassar carried some momentum, hitting .500 percent in the third to win 25-17. The Brewers took control after going up 8-4. The Cardinals' pulled within three, but a Ros kill and two errors held the Vassar lead. Van Beveren put the Brewers ahead 24-16, and then a St. John Fisher service error closed the set.   

Vassar fell behind 3-5 but rattled off a 6-1 run after kills and aces by van Beveren and Waters. St. John Fisher came back to tie 11-11, but two consecutive kills by van Beveren made it 13-11. Vassar maintained the lead, with Kim knocking in the final kill.

The Brewers never trailed in the fifth, going up 12-8 following another Kim termination. Ros slammed in a kill and then van Beveren connected for the ace to make it 14-10. Some late heroics from libero Matt Usui (Rolling Hills Estates, CA) closed the game, with the sophomore slipping in the game-winning point.

As a team, the Brewers totaled 20 blocks, with van Beveren, Waters, and Duchemin each having five block assists. Kim and Koja added two blocks as well. Van Beveren led the team with three aces, while Kim recorded two.  

For the Cardinals, Josh Bigford had a game-high 27 kills with four block assists. Martin Hackford tallied 12 kills and 11 digs.

Vassar returns to action next Friday to host UVC foe MIT on Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. in Kenyon Hall.