This past Saturday, the Stevens Club volleyball teams traveled to Ewing Township to play The College of New Jersey's club team. Stevens had 2 teams represented, an A and a B team, and both played in competitive scrimmages against the TCNJ Lions.
        To start the day, the Stevens Ducks on the A team played a best of 5 sets against TCNJ. Due to some absences Stevens needed some players to really step up against such a physical team. For Stevens the outside hitters were Jake Burger and Tyler Brunquell, and Miles Bird moved up from the B team to play opposite hitter. All of the pins played very well against the lions, having multiple key passes and spikes. In particular, it was Jake Burger's adept defensive positioning and communication abilities that extended rallies and kept the set competitive. In the first set Stevens successfully blocked many of TCNJ's cross hit attempts and racked up multiple service aces. It was not the flashy jump topspin services but rather the well-placed standing float serves of libero Kendall Niles Peretz and Miles Bird that put TCNJ out of position and earned points for the Ducks this afternoon. However, Stevens would go on to lose the first set against TCNJ 21-25 due to some service errors and critical communication faults.
        Unfortunately for the Ducks, these problems were only exacerbated during the next two sets as TCNJ's hitters adjusted to the block and were able to shut out most of the desperate attacks from Stevens. However, Stevens middle blocker Maxwell Metzner was very refined and effective throughout the whole scrimmage raking up multiple huge hits and crushing blocks during key plays. Setter Justin Cheng did an excellent job carefully placing balls around TCNJ's block but the Ducks hitters were not able to capitalize during the second and third sets. Despite Jake Burger and Tyler Brunquell's mix of clever rolls and dynamic swings, TCNJ showed tenacity and kept every ball alive.  Stevens A lost the second set 15-25 and the third set 16-25.
        Next up for Stevens was the B club team, who were missing some members that moved up to play for the A team. Considering this situation, the Ducks showed their fighting spirit in 3 sets that were great learning experience. Despite their struggles with passing TCNJ's hard topspin jump serves, outside hitter Harris Pyo and middle blocker Jack Gibson were able to hit some hard spikes over and around the block, thanks to great sets by Zachary Salisbury. Libero Juan Valencia was present all over the court covering his hitters from behind and getting unlikely digs throughout the set. 
        After losing the first two sets 11-25 and 13-25, the Stevens B team rallied and improved in the third set before losing 20-25. In this last set, Zachary Salisbury had multiple service aces from his powerful jumping topspin serve – perfectly placed in the seam between TCNJ's passers. And Stevens Juan Valencia was not far behind either, following up Zachary's performance with carefully pushed jumping float serves. Both of the B teams new middle blockers, Jack Gibson and Matthew Vaughan, combined for 6 kill blocks in this last set as well. They both did an excellent job recognizing and adjusting to the Lion's hitter patterns. Finally, Harris Pyo spiked nearly every ball put his way with great precision and strength, bending and manipulating the opposing block to his will.