GLENSIDE, Pa. – The Stevenson men's volleyball team (6-12, 1-1 MAC) split a pair of Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) matches during a tri-match hosted by Arcadia Saturday afternoon. The Mustangs fell to Arcadia (11-6, 3-0 MAC) 1-3 before being sweeping by Eastern (7-12, 1-2 MAC) 3-0 in the afternoon match.
vs Arcadia (23-25, 28-30, 25-22, 22-25)
Tim Flanagan led the floor with 21 kills while
Aidan O'Brien tallied 11 and
Elliot De La Torre recorded eight.
Justin Novoa dished out 39 assists while Flanagan led the team with 12 digs and Dougherty added 11.
Arcadia led the opening frame wire-to-wire, taking the first three points of the set and never allowing Stevenson to even tie the set.
Aidan O'Brien and
Justin Novoa paired up for a block to narrow the set to 12-13 but the Knights used a 6-3 run to open a 15-19 lead. The Mustangs used a 6-3 run to narrow the set to 21-22 but Arcadia sealed the set with a 3-2 run to take the opening frame 23-25.
The second set was much more tightly contested with 13 tie scores and eight lead changes and required extra points. The sides traded runs to a 10-10 tie but Steveson used a 10-4 run to open a 20-14 lead capped by a block from Novoa. The Knights used a 10-4 run of their own to tie the frame at 24 apiece. The sides traded two-point side-outs before Arcadia was able to seal the set with back-to-back points and win the frame 28-30.
The third set was again tightly contested with 10 tie scores and five lead changes. The sides traded runs to a 13-13 tie before three-point stretches moved the frame to 16-16, capped off by a kill from
Ryan Thenell. Stevenson gained separation with a a four point run to the 20-16 mark with two kills from Flanagan and a kill and ace from Thenell. Arcadia made a run to move the set to 23-22 but Stevenson took the final two points to win the set 25-22.
Stevenson took advantage of hitting errors from the Knights attack to open a 8-6 lead. However, Arcadia hauled out to a 10-15 lead with an 8-1 run. Flanagan sent down a kill to spark a point-for-point stretch between the sides to the 14-20 mark. The Mustangs used a 6-1 run to narrow the gap to 20-21 with blocks from De La Torre and the duo of Flanagan and O'Brien. Arcadia sealed the frame with a 4-2 run to win the set 22-25.
vs Eastern (20-25, 15-25, 16-25)
Ryan Thenell led the match with 12 kills while
Jack Braverman ripped 11 kills.
Ryan Thenell tallied three aces while
Justin Novoa recorded 29 assists.
The Mustangs turned in an astounding .485 hit percentage in the opening frame and sent down 19 kills. Stevenson jumped to a 13-11 lead on the heels of a three-point run which saw two kills from
Ryan Thenell and one from
Jack Braverman. A 5-3 run from the Eagles knotted the set a t 16 apiece. The sides traded the next six points to the 19-19 mark before Stevenson ripped a 6-1 run to win the set 25-20 with Thenell earning the final kill.
The Mustangs continued their strong hitting to the second frame, registering a .318 hit percentage while holding Eastern to .000. Stevenson rifled off an 8-0 run to leverage a 20-10 lead with three aces and a kill from Thenell in the stretch. Eastern used a 5-2 run to narrow the gap to 22-15 but the Mustangs slammed the door with the final three points of the set including a block from Thenell and
Elliot De La Torre to seal the set.
The Mustangs led the final frame wire-to-wire, allowing only two tie scores at the 2-2 mark. Three separate two-point runs gave Stevenson a 8-15 lead capped by a block from the trio of Braverman, De La Torre, and Thenell. The Eagles narrowed the gap to 19-15 with a 7-4 run before the Mustangs ripped a 6-1 run to seal the set at 25-16.
What's Next
The Mustangs remain in MAC conference play with a road trip to Widener on March 15 for a 7pm match.
