THE BASICS:
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Scores:
No. 6 Stevens – 3, No. 10 MIT - 1 (25-20, 25-23, 25-27, 26-24)
No. 10 MIT - 3 , Rivier -1 (25-10, 25-20, 21-25, 25-19)
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Records: MIT (5-1), Stevens (8-0), Rivier (1-3)
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Location: Cambridge, Mass. (Rockwell Gym)
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The Lead: The No. 10 MIT men's volleyball team dropped its first match of the season in a tightly contested four-set affair against No. 6 Stevens and rebounded with a 3-1 victory over Rivier later in the evening at the MIT Tri-Match.
HOW IT HAPPENED – MATCH ONE vs. No. 6 Stevens:
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Set 1: MIT jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead, but the Ducks slowly chipped away eventually getting the set tied at seven. The teams continued to go back-and-forth before a 4-0 run from Stevens put them up 18-14. Junior
Troy Oliveira (San Diego, Calif.) stopped the run with a kill, but the Ducks tallied the next three points to pull ahead 21-15. The Engineers chipped away at the Stevens lead and a kill from junior
Jack Yurkanin (New Lenox, Ill.) made it a four-point match, but a kill from
Nathan Lancia sealed the first set win for Stevens.
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Set 2: With the set knotted at 12, the visitors used a 5-0 run to go up 17-12. Sophomore
Jack Roberson (Darien, Conn.) ended the Stevens run and kick-started an MIT run that was punctuated by an Oliveira kill to tie the set at 18. The Ducks pulled away and a kill from
Connor Feulner gave them the second set win.
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Set 3: The Engineers once again raced out to an early advantage, going up 11-7 and forcing a Stevens timeout. A kill from first-year
Grant Oh (Irvine, Calif.) out of the pause put MIT up five, however, Stevens drew even with the Engineers with a kill from
Jack Fyda to tie the set at 18. The two teams continued to go back-and-forth with neither team able to put the set away. First-year
Riley Oh (Irvine, Calif.) put MIT up 25-24 but a service error from the Engineers tied the match once again, but back-to-back errors from Stevens gave MIT the set win.
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Set 4: Just like the previous three sets, set four was highly competitive as it featured 16 ties. Back-to-back kills from Yurkanin and Oliveira gave the Engineers an 11-10 lead. The teams continued to trade points with neither getting more than a two-point advantage before back-to-back kills from Fyda gave Stevens the 26-24 win.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- The match between the top-10 opponents featured 39 ties and 12 lead changes.
- Yurkanin paced MIT with 19 kills while Oliveira had 14 and G. Oh added 12.
- Yurkanin also added 13 digs while R. Oh led the way with 14 in the match and also added 42 assists.
HOW IT HAPPENED – MATCH TWO vs. Rivier:
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Set 1: The Engineers grabbed control of the set early, jumping out to a quick 10-2 start to force a Raiders timeout. Rivier could not muster much of a comeback as a kill from Yurkanin sealed a 25-10 first set win.
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Set 2: Trailing early, the Raiders scored three-straight to take a 5-4 lead which started a back-and-forth between the two teams. With the match knotted at 12, MIT got three-consecutive points to take a 15-12 advantage. From that point, MIT slowly began to pull away as a kill from junior
Brett Allen (San Jose, Calif.) put the Engineers up 22-16 and a kill from junior
Dylan Ryan (Oviedo, Fla.) sealed the 25-20 set two win.
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Set 3: Off a kill from Allen that gave MIT a 15-14 advantage, the Raiders scored four of the next five points to take an 18-16 lead and force an MIT timeout. Allen made it a one-point set out of the TO, but Rivier held on as back-to-back kills from
Jack Normandin gave them the 25-21 win.
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Set 4: With a score of 9-7 MIT, a kill from Yurkanin started a 6-0 Engineer run to make it a 15-7 set. Rivier used a 4-1 run to pull to within 19-15, but they would not get much closer as a kill from Ryan gave MIT the set and the match.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Yurkanin tallied his second double-double of the day as he finished with a team-high 15 kills and 10 digs. Senior
Tommy Ogeka (Manorville, N.Y.) also added 10 digs in the match.
- Allen finished the match with 15 kills and four digs.
- Roberson led the match with 41 assists.
- MIT his .305 in the match while Rivier hit just .084.
UP NEXT:
- MIT returns to Rockwell cage tomorrow, Sunday February 6 for a 1 p.m. contest against Benedictine.
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