Blauvelt, N.Y. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Volleyball team advanced to its first-ever ECC title match with a 3-1 victory over American International College in the semifinal round of the conference tournament, held at the Hennessy Center on the campus of Dominican University.
STAC improves to 10-12 overall and will face #3 seed Dominican University in the East Coast Conference Men's Volleyball Tournament Final on Sunday afternoon (1:00 p.m.) in Blauvelt. Domincan defeated #2 Roberts Wesleyan University, 3-0 in the other semifinal matchup. Meanwhile, American International closes out its 2023-2024 campaign at 2-19 and 1-5 in league play.
Set Results
Set 1: AIC 31/STAC 29
Set 2: STAC 25/AIC 18
Set 3: STAC 28/AIC 26
Set 4: STAC 30/AIC 28
How it Happened
- As a team, STAC recorded 62 kills compared to American International's 56. The Spartans also had a 15 blocks and 59 assists, while the Yellow Jackets tallied 7 blocks and 52 assists.
- St. Thomas Aquinas outhit Roberts Wesleyan by a .279 to .194 margin for the match.
- Kyran Versteegen paced the Spartans offense with a match-high 24 kills on Saturday. He also registered six digs, a solo block and three block assists
- Joaquin La Jara tallied 53 serve assists (13.25 assists/set). La Jara also accumulated one kill, two digs and four block assists for the maroon and gold.
- Gabriel Vieira recorded 16 kills, along with ten digs and seven block assists.
- Andre Cippiciani tallied 13 kills, seven digs and a block assist on the day.
- David Weiss picked up five kills, two digs and six block assists in the semifinal contest.
- James Feuchtgruber accumulated three kills, one service ace, four digs and seven block assists.
Up Next
#1 STAC and #3 Dominican will square off in the ECC Men's Volleyball Tournament Final on Sunday afternoon. The teams will lock horns for a third time this season, with the Spartans and Chargers splitting its two previous regular season matchups. Dominican took the first meeting in a five set thriller, 3-2 on February 23, with STAC pitching a 3-0 shutout in the second bout on March 28. Both matches were held at the Hennessy Center on the campus of Dominican University in Blauvelt, New York.