ELMIRA, N.Y. – The No. 6 Vassar men's volleyball squad picked up a 3-0 victory over Elmira in UVC play on Friday evening. The Brewers won 25-13, 25-18, and 25-20 for their third consecutive sweep and fifth match win in a row to move to 15-5 overall and 6-1 in the conference. Meanwhile, the Soaring Eagles fall to 5-13 and 1-2 in the conference.

In the first set, Elmira took an early 3-2 lead before senior Kevin Ros (Bridgewater, NJ) knocked in a kill to tie it up. Junior Ryan Duchemin (Maitland, FL) then made two unanswered kills, and then Jake Kaplan (Leesburg, VA) aced to make it 6-3. Vassar never gave up the lead afterward, pulling away 16-6 to force an Elmira timeout. Two kills by Kaplan and another from freshman Gavin van Beveren (Alpharetta, GA) gave the Brewers a 13-point advantage. Elmira used a 3-0 run to cut the lead to ten, but senior Ghali Khalil (Alexandria, Egypt) sent in a service ace for the set point.

Elmira kept the second set competitive with eight tied until reaching 10-10. Vassar retook control, rattling off four straight points, including kills by Ros and van Beveren, and a Kaplan, Ros, and van Beveren trio block. The Soaring Eagles' Eric Jackson recorded a kill following a timeout to break the run, but Vassar responded with three consecutive kills to go up 17-12. Points were traded until Andrew Kim (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA) and Steven Koja (Temecula, CA) sent in terminations, making it 20-13. Elmira cut it to 24-18, but a service error knocked the Soaring Eagles out of the second set.

Vassar fell behind 2-5 early in the third before Kaplan hit a termination before Ros knocked in two. Elmira would go-ahead 7-6, but three straight points, including blocks by van Beveren, Koja, and Kim, gave Vassar a 9-7 lead. The Brewers slowly built their lead, going up 20-13 after an Elmira error. The Soaring Eagles were not out yet, though, eventually making it a four-point contest. Mistakes troubled Elmira once again, with Vassar winning on a service error.   

Ros led Vassar with nine kills on 17 attacks (.353 percent) and had three block assists. Kaplan and Kim both had seven kills and two block assists, with Kaplan recording a team-high seven digs. Duchemin and van Beveren added seven kills apiece while both hit above .500 percent. Koja finished with a game-high 28 assists.

For Elmira, Tyler Anderson had a game-best 11 kills on 17 attacks (.529 percent).

Vassar is back in action tomorrow to face No. 10 Wells at 2 p.m. in Aurora, N.Y.