POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – After a tough Friday night loss, the No. 5 Vassar men's volleyball team bounced back with a pair of wins on Saturday afternoon in Kenyon Hall. The Brewers first swept UVC opponent Nazareth in three sets (25-18, 25-16, 25-18) and then came back from being down 0-2 to defeat Hunter 3-2 (24-26, 22-25, 25-17, 25-15, 16-14). Vassar now moves to 12-5 overall and 4-1 in the UVC.
Against Nazareth, the Brewers hit .358 percent while holding the Golden Flyers to -.043 percent over three sets. Vassar controlled nearly every statistical category and never trailed by more than two points in a set.
The Brewers pulled ahead 4-2 in the first before three-straight Nazareth points. Junior Ryan Duchemin (Maitland, FL) and first-year Steven Koja (Temecula, CA) tapped in a pair of kills, and then a duo block by sophomore Jake Kaplan (Leesburg, VA) and Koja put the Brewers up by three. Some back-and-forth scoring followed until the trio of Kaplan, Kevin Ros (Bridgewater, NJ), and Jefferson Waters (Hummelstown, PA) tallied kills to make it 12-8. Vassar kept building its lead, closing the set on a 5-2 run.
Vassar completely controlled the second set, going on an 11-1 run after Nazareth went up 3-1. Two consecutive service aces by Koja extended the Vassar lead to 17-7. Then the Brewers led by ten when Gavin van Beveren (Alpharetta, GA) knocked in an ace, and Andrew Kim (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA) hit a kill. A block by Koja and Duchemin made it 23-14, and two Golden Flyers' errors gave Vassar the set win.
Vassar never trailed in the third set, jumping out to an 11-4 lead. The Brewers hit .414 percent with 14 kills and only two errors to safely win 25-18.
The Brewers had an even scoring spread with Duchemin leading the way with eight kills on 13 attacks (.538 percent) and four block assists. Van Beveren recorded seven kills on 15 attacks (.467 percent) and had three block assists. Koja dished out 28 assists.
In the second match, the Brewers fell behind 0-2 in two close sets to Hunter. After trailing most of the first, Vassar tied it 24-24 following a Hunter error. Unfortunately, scored two-straight kills to take the 26-24 win. Vassar kept the game close in the second and took a 10-7 lead after kills by van Beveren and Ros. A 3-1 span that included Ros and Duchemin kills, as well as a Koja and Duchemin block pushed their lead to 15-11. Hunter eventually tied it 18-18 and used a 3-0 span to go up 23-20 soon after. A Vassar service error gave the Hawks the win, though.
Vassar flipped the script in the third, hitting .324 percent while holding the Hawks to .091 percent. A highlight moment was when freshman Jorge Adames Reyes (Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) served ten consecutive times with the Brewers scoring in a 10-0 run. In the span, Kaplan and van Beveren recorded two successive blocks. Reyes also sent in his first-career service ace to extend Vassar's lead to six before Kaplan knocked in two kills. The Brewers made it 16-7 after a joint block by Kim and van Beveren. Vassar held a comfortable lead, winning 25-17 down the stretch.
The Brewers carried the momentum into the fourth. Following a kill by Kim, the Brewers took a 5-2 lead. Hunter would battle back to make it 9-9, but Vassar used a 3-0 rally that ended with a Kaplan kill to make it 14-10. The Brewers pushed the set to 22-14, and then closed the game with two-straight Ros service aces.
Vassar went up 5-1 in the fifth, but the Hawks came back to make it 12-12. A Kim kill, and a Hawks' attack error gave the Brewers a two-point lead, but Hunter tied it once again at 14-14. Freshman Jordan Klembczyk (Penfield, NY) fed Kim for another kill, and then van Beveren knocked in the game-winner.
Van Beveren led the Brewers with 15 kills on 27 attacks (.519 percent) and added four block assists. Ros hit .462 percent with 14 kills, 16 digs, and three aces. Kaplan added a season-high 12 kills at .391 hitting. Koja led the team with 31 assists, while Klembczyk had a new career-best at 16. Defensively, Matt Usui (Rolling Hills Estate, CA) recorded a career-best 18 digs.
Vassar continues their homestand on Wed. Mar. 4 with a double-header against Trine and Bard at 5 p.m. in Kenyon Hall.
