Stevens Men's Volleyball Princeton Tri-Match on Feb. 26th

03.01.22

Princeton, NJ - Stevens A and B team traveled to Princeton last Saturday for 2 matches each against Princeton University and Montclair State University.
The A team performed well in both of their matches. In the first game of the day, the Ducks played against Princeton university. Stevens defeated Princeton in 2 sets, 25 – 12 and 25 – 17. In these games, Stevens made great use of their attackers on the edge and defensive capabilities to keep a wide margin of victory.
The next game for the A team was against Montclair State University, which went similar to the earlier match against Princeton. Outside hitters Alexei Nikiforov, Tim Luft, and Jake Burger were dominant against the opposing blocks, and the Ducks own blocking was an effective joint effort by Harry de Haas, Paul Leible, and Max Metzner. Stevens won this game in two sets, 25 – 18 and 25 – 13.
Also playing at Princeton University was the Stevens B team. In the first of their two matches, the B team went up against MSU. In the first set, Junior setter Justin Cheng made great use of his hitters Tyler Brunquell and Miles Bird to get an early lead and extend it throughout the set. Stevens won the first set in a close finish, 25 – 23. However, the game began to escape from the Ducks afterwards, due to miscommunications on defense and attacking errors. As MSU began to use their middle attack more, the B team fell behind in the second and third set, losing 21 – 25 and 12 – 15.
Following the close 3 set match against Montclair State, the Stevens B team went up against Princeton University in a match that unfortunately went similar to their last. After starting off well by using their strengths at their pin hitters, as well as key blocks by middle blocker Matthew Vaughan, the Ducks were able to maintain their lead and come away with a win in the first set 25 – 19. But unfortunately like their game against MSU, the defense lost its efficiency and the players grew tired as the day went on, and Stevens would lose the next two sets to Princeton 18 – 25 and 9 – 15.
Despite some frustratingly close losses by the B team in back-to-back 3 set games, the Ducks look forward with the same determination as ever as they travel to Stockton the next day for a tournament. The A team will be looking to extend their undefeated weekend and the B team to find a way to turn around their momentum heading into some great opponents coming up.

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