SALEM, Va. - April 21, 2021 – A historic season unfortunately came to an end for Hiram College men's volleyball, as they fell to the 2nd-ranked Vassar College Brewers, 3-0, on Wednesday in the opening round of the 2021 NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball at the Salem Civic Center.
A service error gave the Terriers the first points of the match, but the Brewers scored the next two to take a 2-1 lead. Another Vassar service error knotted the first set at 2-all, before the Terriers and Brewers went back-and-forth, with ties at 3-3, 4-4, 5-5, 6-6, 9-9, 10-10 and 11-11.
Tom Supan gave Hiram a 12-11 lead on a kill from
Andrew Diaz, before the Brewers answered with six of the next seven to take a 17-1 lead.
Three-straight from Hiram cut the Brewers' lead to on, but Vassar responded with a 4-0 run of their own to take a 21-16 lead. The Terriers would get as close as three, holding off set point twice, but the Brewers took set one, 25-21, on a service error to take a 1-0 match lead.
Supan got the Terriers on the scoreboard in the second set, cutting Vassar's early lead in half, 2-1, with an early kill. The two sides traded points in the early going, with ties at 4-4 following a Brewer attach error, and 6-6 after a Montero kill, before Vassar jumped out to a 10-6 lead.
A pair of errors brought the Terriers back within two, but Vassar extended their lead to five, 17-11, on a Hiram attack error and Brewer block, forcing Hiram to take a timeout.
Vassar scored the first couple points out of the timeout, following a service error, before the Terriers made their run. Down 19-13, Hiram pulled within four, on a Vassar attack error, and again on another kill from Montero, cutting Vassar's lead to 22-18.
The Brewers made it 23-18 on a kill from Joseph Harrington, before the Terriers rattled off five-straight, pulling within one, 23-22, on Supan's kill and knotting set two at 23-all on a Vassar attack error. But the Brewers came back to score the next two points and take the second set, 25-23, and a 2-0 match lead.
After another back-and-forth start to the third set, Vassar, up 9-7, used a 4-1 run to take a 13-8 lead on a kill by Jacob Kim. The Terriers, however, remained within striking distance, pulling back within three, 18-15, on a block by
Cole Filer and Montero.
Three quick Vassar points made it 21-15, give the Brewers their largest lead of the set, but the Terriers roared back with a 5-1 run, highlighted by a Filer kill, to pull within two, 22-20.
Vassar's Colin Jones' slowed Hiram's run with a kill, but a service error made it 23-21. Andrew Kim then forced match point with one of his 17 kills, but Supan answered to hold off match point and cut Vassar's lead back down to two, 24-22.
However, the Brewers found the court with their next attack, finishing off the set, 25-22, to take a 3-0 match victory and advance to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals and a matchup with Dominican University.
With the loss, the Terriers finish the year 10-2 (7-0 AMCC), while the Brewers move to 9-4 (5-3 UVC)
Supan led the Terriers with 10 kills, while Montero added seven and
Jake Lininger led Hiram with 11 assists. Defensively, Supan also led the Terriers with five blocks, while four different Terriers recorded blocks, led by Filer with four, and
Andrew Gard with three.
The Terriers wrap up their historic season as Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Regular Season Champions and AMCC Tournament Champions with a perfect, 7-0 conference record, and their first NCAA Tournament berth in program history.
In addition, four Terriers earned All-AMCC honors, a program record, while Head Coach
Kevin Kustura earned AMCC Head Coach of the Year honors in just his first year with the program, and the first coach in Hiram men's volleyball program history to earn the honor.
The Terriers also set program records for kills/set (11.73), attack percentage (.271), assists per set (10.76), service aces per set (1.58), digs per set (11.0) and points per set (14.94)
