THE BASICS:
 
- Scores:
No. 5 Vassar - 3, MIT - 0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-17)
MIT - 3, Stevenson - 0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-22)
 
- Records: MIT (8-5, 0-1 UVC), Vassar (10-1, 1-0 UVC), Stevenson (4-9)
 
- Location: Poughkeepsie, N.Y. (Kenyon Hall)
 
- The Lead: The MIT men's volleyball team returned to the court for a tri-match against fifth-ranked and UVC foe Vassar and Stevenson on Saturday afternoon in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. where the Engineers split their matches with a 3-0 sweep of the Mustangs but fell to the Brewers, 3-0.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED vs. VASSAR:
 
- Set 1:  A kill from junior Phillip Johnson (Chandler, Ariz.) kick-started a 5-0 MIT run to give the visitors a 7-2 lead. The Brewers responded with a 6-1 run to tie the match as the two UVC foes went back and forth before Vassar scored four straight to take an 18-15 lead. Senior Nick Gustafson (San Diego, Calif.) ended the Vassar run with a kill, and a Brewers' error got MIT back to within one, but the fifth-ranked team in the country went on a 7-3 run to take set one 25-20.
 
- Set 2: Trailing early on by a 4-2 score, MIT went on a 5-1 run to go up 7-5. Vassar tied the match off an attack error, but a kill from senior Troy Oliveira (San Diego, Calif.) put MIT back in the lead. Gustafson sparked a 3-0 run as an ace from sophomore Grant Oh (Irvine, Calif.) gave the Engineers a 15-14 advantage. Vassar pulled even once again and after a kill from Oliveira tied the set at 18, the Brewers closed the set on a 7-3 run.
 
- Set 3: A 4-0 run gave Vassar an early 9-4 advantage, but back-to-back attacking errors cut its lead to 11-9. The Engineers got behind 17-11, but two more Brewers errors made it a four-point set. The home team pulled ahead 19-14 before a kill from first-year Michael Rini (Huntington Beach, Calif.) got MIT back to within four, but that was as close as MIT would get as Vassar closed out the win by a 25-17 score.  
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
 
- Gustafson led the Engineers with 16 kills followed by Oliveira and Oh with six.
 
- Senior Albert Luo (Dallas, Texas) posted a team-high 27 assists.
 
- For Vassar Andrew Kim led the way with 11 kills and six digs while Jacob Kim had 31 assists.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED vs. STEVENSON

- Set 1: Gustafson sparked a 12-4 Engineer run to give MIT a 15-6 lead as they cruised to a 25-16 set one win on a kill from Oliveira who led the team with six kills in the opening set.
 
- Set 2: The two squads remained close in the second stanza which featured 12 ties and five lead changes. Down 10-9, MIT used a 4-2 run to take a one-point lead before Stevenson came right back and tied the set. Kills from Oliveira book ended a 3-0 run which put the Engineers up 21-17 and back-to-back Mustang errors gave MIT the 25-19 win.
 
- Set 3: Three straight kills from Oh put MIT up 5-3 but Stevenson responded with a 6-1 run to pull ahead 9-6. Down by four, back-to-back kills from Oh jump started an 8-1 Engineer run to put MIT up 17-15. Stevenson then went on a 4-1 run to regain the lead and after an MIT service error tied the set at 21, the Engineers scored four of the next five points, capped by a Gustafson kill to take the victory, 25-22.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
- Gustafson led the Engineers with 16 kills, marking his fifth match with at least 15 kills. He also added seven digs in the match.
 
- Oh and Oliveira each recorded 12 kills in the set. Oh also contributed seven digs and three aces.
 
- Luo posted 31 assists in the match and first-year Kevin Windisch (Placentia, Calif.) had a team-leading 11 digs.
 
- Ryan Thenell led Stevenson with 13 kills and Justin Novoa recorded 18 assists.
 
UP NEXT:
 
- The Engineers will take a 10-day break before returning home to Rockwell Cage for a 7 p.m. contest on Tuesday, February 28 against Lesley.    
 
STAY CONNECTED:
 
- For the latest on MIT Athletics, follow the Engineers via social media on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram