New York, NY - The #9 Vassar College Men's Volleyball team saw its season come to a close on Friday night in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament as the Brewers fell 25-19, 17-25, 15-25, 20-25 against #7 Cal Lutheran on the campus of New York University. Vassar's record ends at 22-7 overall while the Kingsmen advance to the NCAA Regional Final against host #1 NYU tomorrow evening.

First Set

• The Kingsmen opened the match with a 5-2 lead following back-to-back kills from Parker Brown and Michael Stahl along with an ace from Ben Weber.
• VC brought the score back within one at 7-6 on kills from senior Gavin Akoto and sophomore Armaan Desai.
• Cal Lutheran's lead grew to 13-9 on two kills from Jordan Cooper and a block from Brown and Gavin Galanski.
• The Brewers drew even at 14 all on a kill and an ace from sophomore Walter Birnbaum and a winner from Akoto.
• VC took its first lead at 17-16 on a winner from senior Billy Fan and expanded the lead to 20-17 on a service ace from senior Payne Lounsbery.
• Cal Lu got within 20-18 on a service error before scoring five of the next six points behind two kills and an ace from Desai, an ace from Fan and a solo block from Akoto to win the opening set.

Second Set

• Vassar raced out to a 5-1 lead on two Desai aces and a kill from Birnbaum.
• A Birnbaum kill kept the Brewers lead at 7-4 before a four-point run from CLU, led by two kills from Weber, one winner from Stahl and an ace from Borys Horiuk put the Kingsmen on top 8-7.
• A kill from Lounsbery evened the set at nine all until Cal Lutheran expanded its lead out to 18-11 on four kills from Stahl and a winner and an ace from Weber.
• Kills from Akoto and first year Henry Bonney cut the Cal Lu lead down to 22-16.
• Two more Stahl kills and a winner each from Weber and Cooper evened the match at one set all.

Third Set

• Three kills from Birnbaum and a block from Fan and senior Tobias Clark put the Brewers ahead 5-4 early in the third set.
• The Kingsmen answered with two kills from Brown and two winners from Weber to lead CLU ahead 13-7.
• A kill from Desai and a solo block from Clark cut the lead down to 14-10 until Cal Lutheran answered with a Horiuk ace to expand the lead to 18-10.
• CLU used a kill each from Brown and Weber to clinch the third set victory.

Fourth Set

• Both teams traded points in the early going as CLU took a 7-6 lead on a block from Brown and Stahl.
• VC went in front at 10-9 behind a solo block from Clark and a kill from Birnbaum.
• Two more kills from Stahl and a winner from Horiuk expanded the Cal Lutheran advantage to 17-11.
• The Brewers cut the lead down to 21-16 on a kill and a solo block from Fan along with a block from Desai, Clark and Birnbaum.
• Cooper's ace put the Kingsmen within 24-17 before VC used a three-point run, led by a solo block, to reduce the lead to 24-20.
• Cal Lutheran closed the match with a Horiuk winner to punch their ticket to tomorrow's regional final.

For The Brewers

• Desai led the way with 13 kills (.429), three aces and two blocks along with Birnbaum recording 11 kills, a block and an ace.
• Akoto added seven kills and two blocks while Fan registered six kills and six digs.
• Lounsbery finished with 27 assists and 13 digs along with Clark chipped in four blocks (two solo) and six digs.
• Sophomore Tucker Shearn lifted 10 digs at libero for the Brewers.

For The Kingsmen

• Stahl garnered a match-high 20 kills, 18 digs and three aces while Weber recorded 14 kills, two aces and nine digs.
• Cooper registered 10 kills and nine digs along with Horiuk adding five kills and two blocks.
• Brown chipped in five kills and three blocks while Galanski posted a match-high 47 assists, three blocks and 12 digs.