OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Sophomore
Tim Flanagan tallied 15 kills in his 2023 debut as the Stevenson men's volleyball team (5-11, 0-0 MAC) defeated Randolph-Macon (8-8, 1-1 CVC) 3-1 Wednesday evening at Owings Mills gymnasium. Set scores were 18-25, 25-19, 26-24, 29-27.
The first set saw three tie scores and no lead changes as Randolph-Macon led the frame wire-to-wire. The Yellow Jackets jumped to a 5-10 advantage following a three-point run.
Doug Hines and
Tim Flanagan added aces during a 4-1 run to narrow the gap to 9-11.
Minh Christensen added a kill to move the frame to 12-15 but a five-point run from RMC pushed the frame to 12-20. The Mustangs chipped away with a 4-2 stretch, but RMC closed out the frame with a 3-2 run to take the first set 18-25.
Stevenson regained composure in the second set, hitting .333 while holding the Yellow Jackets to .133 in the second set. The sides traded runs in the early stages of the set with Stevenson taking a 7-9 lead. RMC took a slight advantage at 11-10 with a three-point run. The sides traded points before
Elliot De La Torre sent down a kill to spark an 8-2 run to put the Mustangs up 19-14.
Aidan O'Brien,
Elliot De La Torre, and
Ryan Thenell each added two kills in the run. The Yellow Jackets remained within arms' reach of the Mustangs through the remainder of the set before Thenell sent home a kill followed by a block from O'Brien and Thenell to give Stevenson the second set 25-19.
The teams battled through nine tie scores and three lead changes in the third set which would require extra points. RMC added a strong .344 hitting percentage in the frame, but Stevenson mustered an impressive .448 hitting percentage. Stevenson used a 7-2 run to leverage a 16-2 lead.
Tim Flanagan sent down a kill and then an ace to move the score to 16-20 before RMC narrowed the gap to 22-21with a 5-2 run.
Aidan O'Brien sent down back-to-back kills to give Stevenson its first set point of the frame but a three-point RMC run knotted the frame at 24 apiece. Back-to-back errors from the Yellow Jackets gave Stevenson the third set 26-24 and a 2-1 advantage overall.
The fourth set saw nine tie scores but only one lead change as Stevenson outhit the Yellow Jackets .394 to .293. Randolph-Macon leveraged a 8-11 lead, but Stevenson tied the set at 11 apiece with a three-point run with kills from Flanagan and Thenell. A 5-1 RMC run moved the set to 12-16 before the sides went point-for-point over the next six points to the 15-19 mark. With the set score at 19-22,
Jack Braverman sent home a kill to spark a four-point run to give Stevenson a 23-22 advantage. Neither side was willing to back down as the teams went point-for-point over the next nine points but Stevenson was able to seal the victory with a block from
Ryan Thenell and
Aidan O'Brien.
Numbers and Notes
What's Next
- Stevenson returns to action on Saturday, March 11 to face Arcadia (11am) and Eastern (1pm) in a tri-match hosted by Arcadia in Glenside, Pa.
