Men's Volleyball: Raiders split tri-match at #2 Stevens

Men's Volleyball: Raiders split tri-match at #2 Stevens

(Hoboken, N.J.) The Rivier University Men's Volleyball team earned a split of today's tri-match hosted by Stevens Institute of Technology. The Raiders defeated Lehman College in straight sets before falling in three sets to Stevens, who is currently ranked as the #2 team in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll.

Game One: Rivier University 3, Lehman College 0 (Final)

Rivier easily took care of business against Lehman as they took the game by set scores of 25-17, 25-11 and 25-10.

Junior Dashaun Graham (Highland Falls, N.Y.) continued his hot start to the season as he led the way both offensively and defensively for the Raiders. Graham tied for the team-high with 8 kills on his way to a .636 hitting percentage while racking up five total blocks. Sophomore David Smith (Clinton, Ohio) also was fantastic along the net as he finished with 8 kills and a .438 hitting percentage. Senior setter Garrett Bucklin (Jamestown, R.I.) dished out 28 assists and the duo of senior Kyle Heidler (Hampstead, N.H.) junior Dahnny Rogers (Penfield, N.Y.) patrolled the back line with six digs. Sophomore Cam Roth (Coventry, R.I.) chipped in with six digs and eight kills of his own in the three set win.

Lehman (1-4 overall) saw Roberto Ventura Diaz set the game-high of nine kills and got solid contributions from Felipe Velandia, five kills, and Yaw Eshun, who finished with four kills.

Game Two: #2 Stevens Institute of Technology 3, Rivier University 0 (Final)

For the second time in their previous three games, the Raiders were swept by a top-3 team as the #2 ranked Stevens Institute of Technology took the match by scores of 25-14, 25-19 and 25-19. Four days earlier, Rivier fell in straight sets to #1 Springfield College.

Rivier saw three student-athlete tie for the team high with six kills led by senior Grant Andler (Chicago, Ill.) who also chipped in defensively with four digs and three total blocks (two block solos). Bucklin registered 23 assists while scooping up a team-high eight digs. Rogers added seven digs while Roth and Smith were the other two to record six kills.

Stevens (8-2 overall) received an all-around performance from David Lehman who tied for the game-high with 12 kills while also leading the game with nine-digs and five total blocks. Gabe Shankweiler also chipped in with 12 kills as Jacob Patterson handed out 26 helpers.

Rivier (5-5 overall) will be back on the court this Tuesday evening as they travel to Providence, Rhode Island for the first Great Northeast Athletic Conference game of the season with a 7pm start time at Johnson & Wales University.