CINCINNATI, Ohio -  Less than 24-hours after suffering a hard-fought defeat to Division I University of Charleston the eleventh-ranked Stevenson University men's volleyball team responded with a convincing near wire-to-wire victory over the host Mount St. Joseph's University on Thursday evening at the Harrington Center.  Set scores were 25-19, 25-15, and 25-15.

• Stevenson (1-1) jumped out to an early 7-2 advantage thanks to an ace and a kill for Jason Gardner along with a combination block from Nate Reynolds and Logan Smiley who also picked up a kill during the run.
• A kill by Landon Shorts coming after two Mount St. Joseph's (0-1) errors opened up a six-point lead for the Mustangs at 13-7. 
• The Lions cut the margin down to four when an attack miscue by Reynolds made it 16-12.
• Stevenson continued to put distance between themselves and the opponent as an ace by Billy Russo and a kill off the hand of Nathan Bosse coupled with four Mount St. Joseph's mistakes put the Mustangs one point away from the opening set at 24-15.
• A Shorts mishit and a block between Ben Holt and Darrell Swanson began a 4-0 Lions push to close the gap slightly, but a Bosse kill off an Aleks Melbardis assist capped things off 25-19.  
• Stevenson outhit Mount St. Joseph's .158 to .074.

• The Mustangs began the second strong only needing one Bosse kill to go along with four Lions errors to snag a 5-2 edge.
• A solo block by Reynolds extended the lead to 8-3, before three consecutive scores for Mount St. Joseph's trimmed the deficit to 8-6.
• Stevenson answered back with a 5-2 scoring run thanks to a pair of Smiley kills and one each from Shorts and Bosse to go up 13-8.
• Gardner would commit an attack error later on during a little push by the home side that let them back to within two 14-12.
• Shorts recorded two aces and a kill combined with two kills from Smiley as well as three different pairs of assisted blocks to wrap-up the frame on an 11-3 run to take it 25-15.
• In set two the Mustangs hit an impressive .261 while holding the hosts to a -.037. 

• Swanson gave the Lions their lead of the day with a kill to start off the third. 
• This time the multiple kills came from Gardner as he recorded two along with a single from Smiley and Shorts en route to a 10-2 push to take a 10-3 advantage.
• Mount St. Joseph's came back with a vengeance going on a 9-2 run, as a kill from Jack Spohn and a combination block between Jason Hascher and Holt brought them back to within a single point 13-12.
• The Mustangs took control from then on as Smiley posted two kills and Shorts, Gardner and Reynolds each tallied one in the midst of a 12-3 gallop to close out the set and the match 25-15.
• Stevenson once again held the hosts to a negative attack percentage at -.100 to their .222.

• For the match, the visitors hit .217  while holding the home team in the negatives at -.024.
• The Lions committed 27 attack errors with the Mustangs only having 13.
• Smiley led the way with nine kills, five digs, and four block assists.
• Shorts, Gardner and Bosse each posted five kills, while combining for eight digs, four block assists, and three service aces.
• Christian Taylor recorded a game-high 25 assists and Reynolds finished with a game-high six blocks.
• Mount St. Joseph's was paced by Hascher who finished with seven kills, six digs, two blocks, and an ace.

• The Mustangs take a day off before returning to action on Saturday, January 19 when they battle North Central (Ill.) College who received votes in the AVCA DIII Preseason Poll and Aurora University in a tri-match at Gregory Arena in Naperville, Illinois.  Stevenson will face the host Cardinals at 1pm, before squaring off with the at 3:30pm.