SALEM, Va. – The Stevenson University men's volleyball team split two matches at the Roanoke Tri-Match on Saturday. In the opener, the Mustangs defeated the Maroons (7-15), 3-0; while in the nightcap, Randolph-Macon (15-14) defeated Stevenson (11-16) 3-0.
Game 1
Stevenson won by scores of 27-25, 25-20 and 25-23.
Tim Flanagan had 14 kills – a match-high – while Elliot De La Torre had nine and Brian Farrell had six. Jack Braverman had five of Stevenson's eight aces, with Arian O'Brien netting three blocks. De La Torre and Flanagan had two blocks each.
Doug Hines had 17 assists, with Justin Novoa getting 14.
Michael Dougherty had ten digs, while Flanagan picked up ten.
As a team, Stevenson had a .242 attack percentage, including a .364 percentage (14-6-22) in the second set.
Both teams traded runs early on, before Stevenson took an 11-8 lead on a Roanoke attack error. The Mustangs took a 21-16 lead (it's biggest lead of the set) on a service ace by O'Brien. Roanoke would then rally to within one at 21-20, before back-to-back kills by De La Torre gave SU a 23-20 lead.
Roanoke would tie the score at 25-all, but, Stevenson would get kills from Braverman and Flanagan to win the first set 27-25.
In the second set, Stevenson took the lead for good at 14-12 on two straight service aces by Braverman. The Mustangs would go on a 5-0 run to go up 19-13 as De La Torre and Flanagan had a block.
In the third set, Stevenson trailed 16-12, before Flanagan had two kills to get within one at 16-15. Stevenson took the lead at 20-19 as Braverman had two service aces. Tied at 23-all, Farrell had a kill followed by the game-winning point on a block from O'Brien and Braverman.
Game 2
The Yellowjackets won by set score of 25-21, 25-20 and 25-19.
De La Torre had nine kills, while Flanagan had eight.
Novoa had 27 assists, with Braverman having eight digs.
In the first set, Stevenson had an early 9-4 lead before Randolph-Macon rallied to tie the score at 12-all. Stevenson would again take the lead at 16-13, on a kill from Braverman, before RMC took the lead for good at 22-19.
In set two, Randolph-Macon took the lead for good at 13-12 and never looked back, as Stevenson would get within two at 17-15 the rest of the way.
Set three saw Randolph-Macon score the final seven points of the match, as Stevenson led 19-18.
The Mustangs will go to Hood to wrap up regular season play on Friday.
