Stevens Falls In Regional Final
HOBOKEN, N.J. (November 13, 2016) – The Stevens Institute of Technology women's volleyball team saw its 2016 season come to an end Sunday in a three-set loss to No.13 Eastern in the NCAA Tournament Regional Final.
The loss ends Stevens' season at 33-6, while Eastern will move onto Wisconsin and the Elite 8. The finals appearance was the second in the last three seasons for the Ducks.
Freshman
Casey King played a key role on the Ducks attack with eight kills, while seniors
Mary Tobin and
Christina Sciarra chipped in with six and five respectively. Junior
Sydni Horner led all players with 17 kills on the defensive end.
Eastern opened set one with an 11-6 advantage, but three straight from Stevens keyed by a kill from King brought Stevens back to within two. Eastern rallied again to re-build its lead to four, before a 5-0 Stevens run with another King kill tied the set at 14.
Both teams deadlocked six more times including at 23, but Eastern rallied with the final two points to put Stevens in a 1-0 hole.
The Ducks stormed out to a 7-1 advantage in set two before Eastern came all the way back to tie things at 13. Freshman
Shelby Stewart stopped the run with a kill shortly after to re-tie the match at 14, followed by kills from Sciarra and Tobin to make it 18-17 Stevens.
The Ducks enjoyed one more lead at 20-19 and proceeded to hold off three different set points from Eastern, but the Eagles finally closed the win with two straight after a 24-24 tie.
Eastern jumped out to a 16-11 lead in the third set, before Stevens rallied with three straight capped by two kills from freshman
Sara Hain to pull within three. The Ducks got to within two at 22-20 off an Eastern error, but it's as close as they would get as the Eagles won the final three points to clinch the match.