Box
score
STEVENSON, Md. - Stevenson University men's
volleyball sophomore Jason Matkowski (Warminster,
Pa./William Tennent) totaled a career-high 22 kills in his
third career match, but it wasn't enough to overcome 77 kills and a
.323 hitting percentage by No. 8 Baruch as the Bearcats edged
out a 3-1 win Friday night at Carolyn Manuszak Student Union
Gymnasium.
Pablo Oliveira had 23 kills over three games to lead Baruch
(8-3) who is ranked at No. 8 in the NECVA Top 10 Poll and No. 12 in
the Bison/AVCA Division III Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll. The victory
came on the heels of Thursday night's 3-1 loss at No. 15
Philadelphia Biblical.
Matkowski led three Mustangs (2-1) in double figures as junior
David Lloyd (Germantown/Seneca Valley) had 15 and
senior J.R. Jackson (Havre de Grace/Havre de
Grace), who now has 1,000 in his career, added 12.
Jackson and Matkowski combined to hit .348 with just 11 errors
in 66 attempts.
The school's leader in kills, Jackson has 34 this season, but
was limited to just 26 attempts against Baruch. Matkowski had 40
swings, followed by Lloyd with 38 and 30 from senior Steve
Grossnickle (Perry Hall/Calvert Hall) who finished with
nine kills.
Stevenson kept the match close, trailing by no more than eight
points the entire match with that coming in game one when the
Mustangs trailed 21-13.
Trailing 22-14 in the first game, Stevenson rallied to pull
within one, 26-25 behind the serve of Jackson and Grossnickle which
led to seven points. However, the Bearcats would score four of the
final seven points, including two on Mustang errors to pull out the
two-point victory.
With the second game tied at 11-11, Stevenson would take a
two-point advantage on back-to-back blocks by senior Ryan
McDowell (Germantown/Seneca Valley). The team would hold
the lead until consecutive attack errors by Jackson and Grossnickle
gave the Bearcats a 24-23 lead.
Six of Baruch's final eight points in game two came on Stevenson
errors as it sneaked out a 30-25 victory.
Trailing by six in the third game, 22-16, the Mustangs rallied
to tie the game at 28-28 before emerging with the two-point
win behind two kills from Lloyd and one from Matkowski.
The fourth game was tied for the eighth time at 20-20 before
Baruch scored 10 of the final 15 points to seal the match.
Senior Anthony Cammarata (Fallston/Calvert
Hall) finished with 57 assists and six digs for the
Mustangs while junior Ben Leatherman (Glen Arm/Calvert
Hall) had a match-high 14 digs. Grossnickle added 11 digs,
just missing a double double in kills and digs.
Stevenson will host five matches on Saturday as part of its quad
match, playing Mt. St. Vincent at 11 a.m., followed by King's
(Tenn.) at 1:00 p.m.
