Stevens into Regional Final of NCAA Tournament; Ducks Host Clarkson Sunday at 3 p.m.
Rob Kulish
Tournament Webpage | Bracket
Match Point | Stevens Press Conference
HOBOKEN, N.J. (November 16, 2014) – The Stevens Institute of Technology women's volleyball team is one of 16 teams in the nation still standing after a 3-1 win over Roger Williams University in the Hoboken Regional semifinal of the NCAA Division III Championship Saturday night in the Canavan Arena in front of a raucous crowd.
Stevens will battle Clarkson University Sunday in Canavan at 3 p.m. for a berth in the national quarterfinals and the Hoboken Regional title.
The Ducks (33-6) overcame a tough first set in which they fell, 25-17, to take the next three by scores of 27-25, 25-23 and 25-21.
First Set
The Ducks led early on, 9-4, but the third-seeded Hawks scored 14 of the set's next 16 points to open an 18-11 margin before earning the 25-17 win and taking a 1-0 lead in the match.
Second Set
The second set was as thriller with ebbs and flows and back and forth throughout. Stevens jumped out to a 6-3 lead thanks to a 3-0 spurt highlighted by kills from senior
Ashley Castillo and sophomore
Mary Tobin along with a service ace from Tobin.
Trailing 9-6, RWU ran off three-straight points to tie the score at nine, but the Ducks responded by opening a 14-10 lead behind senior
Katie Hall's serve and another kill from Tobin. Again, the Hawks responded in the face of adversity to tie the score, but the Ducks kept their collective cool and went on top 17-14 on the back of sophomore
Christina Sciarra.
The Ducks maintained a nice working lead and led 21-18 before Roger Williams made a run of its own to tie the score at 21. The Hawks even took a 22-21 edge, but two kills from Tobin in a 3-0 run gave the Ducks the lead. Again, RWU came back, this time turning a 24-23 deficit into a chance at set point (25-24), but the Ducks had the fortitude to tie things at 25 behind a Tobin kill, and then get a kill from junior
Annemarie Thomas and another from Tobin to knot the match at one apiece.
Third Set
In the third, the two teams went point-for-point and after 23 tallies, neither team had built a lead more than one and the score was 12-11 Stevens. Four of the next five points went to the Ducks as they built a 16-12 edge, but the Hawks clawed back to take a 21-19 margin.
The Ducks tied things at 21, before kills from Tobin and Sciarra made it 23-21 Stevens. RWU (23-6) responded to tie the score, but a block from Sciarra and a kill from Tobin locked up the third and gave Stevens a 2-1 lead.
Fourth Set
Despite some swings in momentum in the early going, the two teams were tied at 10-all after 20 tallies. The Ducks recorded five of the next six points to take a 15-11 advantage, highlighted by a pair of kills from Thomas.
The Hawks closed within one (16-15), but a kill from Thomas, a kill from Evans and an attack error from the Hawks gave the Ducks a 19-15 edge and all the momentum, feeding off a frenzied Canavan Arena crowd.
Amazingly, Rogers Williams still came back, getting within one at 20-19, but the Ducks slammed the door shut with two kills from Hall, two from Tobin and one from Sciarra to take the win and march into the Regional title match.
Tobin had a remarkable 28 kills with an attacking percentage of .324, adding 19 digs. Sciarra had 11 kills, six digs, and a block solo, while Evans finished with nine kills, 16 digs and three blocks assists. Thomas had seven kills (.400), four block assists and one block solo. Freshman libero
Sydni Horner had 20 digs, and junior
Catie Shelton added 11. Hall had four kills, four digs, two aces and two block assists, while the setter –
Ashley Castillo – was excellent, notching 53 assists and eight digs.
Stevens hit .224 as a team with 12 block assists and two block solos.
Visit
www.stevensducks.com for links to follow Sunday's action live from Canavan Arena.