On April 9, No. 4 Stevens Men’s volleyball won the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) over No. 13 Messiah University. They swept the match 3-0, with each individual set attaining a score of 25-23, 25-15, 25-20.
One of the important games that brought the Ducks to the championship match was their final game of the regular season. On April 2, Stevens continued their winning streak to 15 games when they beat Messiah to secure the MAC regular-season title. The team’s victory also gave them the top seed in the league’s postseason tournament. Across five sets, Stevens won 3-2, with scores of 20-25, 29-27, 27-29, 25-20, and 15-11. First-year Koby Sherman and junior Connor Feulner contributed to the team’s performance, with 17 and 13 kills respectively. In their opening game of that tournament, Stevens swept Arcadia with scores of 25-23, 25-16, and 25-11. The team finished the regular season with a record of 26-3 and 13-0 within the league.
In the semi-final match in Canavan Arena on April 6, Stevens defeated Arcadia 3-1 with scores of 25-22, 16-25, 25-18, 25-20. Stevens ended the third set on a 9-4 run and the fourth set on a 12-5 run. Sherman had a career high of 26 kills, and junior Percy Bickford followed with 14 kills.
Their semi-final win brought them to the final game of the tournament against Messiah, played at home. In the first set, the teams battled through an intense game and shared 11 ties and six lead changes, and ended with a close score of 25-23. In the second match, Stevens started with a 5-0 lead and kept the lead the whole way through, winning at a margin of 25-15. In the third and final match, Messiah scored the first point, where after that Stevens took the lead and kept it through the match and won 25-20, securing their championship title. Throughout their 3-0 win, Sherman led the team with 17 kills and was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. Graduate student Jack Fyda had six kills, and Bickford finished with five kills. The team overall across the three sets hit for .319, and had 35 kills, 34 assists, five aces, and eight blocks.
The victory gave Stevens their first-ever MAC Championship and first conference title since 2018. The team’s season record improved to 28-3, and they earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament. On April 15, Stevens will take on Endicott College at home in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
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