February 14, 2024
It’s Valentines Day. But the schedule for D3 volleyball doesn’t stop. How many players mates were left crying as the bus pulled away for tonight’s games? We don’t have a stat on that one…
Southern Virginia has yet to lose a set this season and showed off their prowess at the Barn tonight with a CVC win over Eastern Mennonite. We continue to be impressed by Jeremy Brown this season for the Knights. The 6′ 5″ junior from Mesa, AZ, is having the best season of his career. When you think of the Knights team, the Sheaffer brothers always come to mind first. But Jeremy is coming into his own as a star at the D3 level averaging 3.26 kills per set, hitting .306 overall on the season, being a terror on the service line with 16 aces, and 1.63 digs per set. IH’s #1 team still has two weeks before they embark on a northern road trip that takes them to Rochester and has them playing 4 of the top teams in the country. Nazareth, Hobart, Vassar, and St. John Fisher await the Knights and will define whether SVU is the cream the of the crop or just benefiting from a lower strength of schedule. IH has them at #1, so you know what we are expecting along with Jeremy “Jimbo Slice” Brown continuing his great season and superlative level of skill.
Stevens continued its strong season postings its 10th win in a row as they took down NYU in straight sets. Louden Moran and Percy Bickford lit up the scoreboard against the Violets as the defending champs continue to roll. Moran had 34 assists, 6 kills, 6 digs, and 3 blocks. Bickford slapped 14 kills and .522. Jesse Knuckles provided the back row expertise with 9 digs. The Ducks honored former longtime Coach Patrick Dorywalski for the night. NYU fell back to 4-4 on the season. Stevens is 14-1.
Vassar improved to 9-2 after taking down a solid Benedictine squad in straight sets. Tristan Christofferson hit .588 and torqued 11 kills for the Brewers while Jacob Kim had 7 kills, 17 assists, 7 digs and an ace. Gavin Akoto and Billy Fan each added 8 kills.
Springfield downed SUNY New Paltz in 4 tight sets at the Hawks nest. The Pride win their 10th match in a row. Graham Labeck and Pat Wing kept this one close, but Springfield powered through for the win with Evan Costly cracking 15 kills and Sam Levinson smoking 14 and Dylan Mulvaney with 42 assists. Mark your calendars for ten days from now on 2/24 when Springfield faces Stevens at Blake Arena.
Beautiful work from Michael Shelley tonight as he leads Emmanuel over Eastern Nazarene in 4 sets. Michael walloped 27 kills and hit .417 while also adding 12 digs, an ace and 5 blocks to spur the Saints to victory.
Lucas Blanco jammed 6 aces and 7 kills while hitting .667 to lead the Scarlet Raiders of Rutgers to a straight set drubbing of Ramapo. Evan Jazmin had 7 digs and Aleks Kolodziej had 5 kills for the winners. Rutgers wins it first NJAC match and improved to 6-4 overall.
Messiah wins a three-set match with Penn State Altoona tonight, powered by Ryan Givens (15 kills, .650, 5 blocks) and Jacob Hamm (14 kills, .478, 4 blocks). Messiah dominated the match on the block, 11-3, and with hitting percentage, .400 vs. .122. This weekend will test the 5-4 Falcons as they travel to Ohio to face Baldwin Wallace, NCC, and Nazareth.
MIT smoked Elms in straight sets with 7 engineers getting 5 or more kills. Nick Gustafson led MIT with 10 kills and a .500 hitting percentage. Ryan Espinoza lifted 14 digs and Riley Oh added 33 assists for the winners. MIT starts their UVC schedule this weekend when they take on Vassar.
Houghton would not give up tonight as they squeak out a 5-set battle with Wells. Wells outscored Houghton by 13 but could not get key points on set five, falling 15-13. Elijah Sproull had a tremendous overall effort with 19 assists, 21 kills, 5 digs, 5 blocks, and an ace for the winners. Anthony Panboon was instrumental in the victory as well as he lifted 23 digs. It was Houghton’s second win of the season.
Drew felt the loss of Andrew DuHaime to injury tonight as they fell in straight sets to Kean. Jack Freese stepped up for the Cougars to key the victory. The 6’9″ middle exploded for 11 kills and 3 blocks as Kean improved to 7-6.
Gavin Newman posted 46 assists, 3 assists, 9 digs and 4 blocks to help St. John Fisher power past D2 Roberts Wesleyan in 4-sets. Griffin Stella was spectacular at middle blasting 13 kills and hitting an astonishing .813, while adding 5 blocks. Ian Rauh was equally as impressive with 12 kills and .688 hit percentage and also adding 5 blocks. The Cardinals are now 14-1 overall and face Nazareth next Wednesday in a conference clash and battle of Rochester.
Nice night for Anthony Pezzino as he places 13 kills and hits .417 to lead Stevenson past Lancaster Bible 3-0. Dawson Forney had 19 kills for Lancaster Bible in a losing cause. Stevenson settles at 4-4 for the season.
Manhattanville picked up its third win of the season in a 5-set battle with Sage. Sage struggled on the service line with 27 errors, giving up a sets worth of points, while the Valiants out-aced the Gators 14-5. Manhattanville avoided a reverse sweep with a 15-13 fifth set win. Emil Morban-Medrano led the winners with 12 kills and 10 digs. Joe Gandrillas added 8 kills, 5 aces, and 9 digs for the Valiants.
Player of the Night
Gavin Newman of St. John Fisher take tonight’s honors. Gavin with a complete effort tonight against D2 Robert Wesleyan to drive the Cardinals to their 14th win of the season.
