HOBOKEN, N.J. - The Stevenson University men's volleyball team put forth a valiant effort on Thursday night in the semifinals of the 2025 Middle Atlantic Conference Semifinals, before dropping a 3-1 decision to top-seeded Stevens.

Set scores were 22-25, 25-17, 27-25, 25-17 in favor of the fourth-ranked Ducks, who will host Messiah in Saturday's championship. 

For the Mustangs (15-10), Tim Flanagan had 24 kills with Ryan Thenell adding 11 as did Anthony Pezzino. 

Connor Roth had 46 assists while Flanagan, Adam DeRubertis and Roth each chipping in with two service aces. Thenell had eight digs while Pezzino had seven. 

Thenell, RC Getteau and Corwin Trouteaud each had three blocks assists on the night. 

Stevens (24-4) was led by 25 kills from Koby Sherman. 

In the first set, the Mustangs took its first lead of the match at 9-8 on a kill by Flanagan. Throughout the rest of the first set, the two squads traded ties and the lead, before Stevenson went up 23-21 on back-to-back kills from Pezzino. A kill from Flanagan gave the Mustangs a 24-21 lead, with Pezzino's kill on an assist from Roth giving the Mustangs the first set at 25-22. 

In the second set, Stevens took control early going up 11-6 on an ace by Sebastian Huyke. Stevenson would get within two at 12-10 on an ace by Roth. The Ducks would respond with a 8-2 scoring run paced by hills from Sherman and Huyke to take a 18-12 lead and a 25-17 victory leveling the match at 1-all. 

In the third set, Stevenson trailed 16-12 midway through before slowly chipping away the Ducks lead. The Mustangs however, could not pull ahead but did force a tie at 25-all on a kill by Flanagan but dropped the third set 27-25. 

The fourth set saw Stevenson take an early 9-7 lead as Flanagan had a kill. With the score tied at 12-all, Stevens went on a 10-2 scoring run to go up 22-14 and never looked back.