April 1, 2003

Endicott dropped the match to the University of New Haven Chargers 1-3, despite an exciting third game comeback and a nail-biter of a fourth game. The Gulls showed signs of brilliance as the match went on, overcoming a slow start, with game scores of 18-30, 20-30, 32-30, and 27-30.

The Gulls were led offensively by sophomores Jeremy Fontaine (Belchertown, MA) with 18 kills and Dan Green (Tempe, AZ) with twelve. Junior Craig Steszewski (Henrietta, NY) led the defense with 11 digs, behind the blocking of Dan Green and sophomore Russ Friedland (Mansfield, CT).

In the victory, Freshman Jonathan Steeves (Trumbull, CT) led the New Haven charge with nineteen kills. His offensive efforts were backed by juniors Neil Mayo (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) and Ruben Taveras (Santo Domingo, D.R) with 15 and 14 kills respectively. Freshman setter Kris Czaplinski (Shelton, CT) ran the offense for the Chargers tallying 60 assists.

The Gulls are looking to reach some individual career milestones as they approach the NECVA championship weekend. Junior Pablo Baez (San Juan, PR) has just recently surpassed the 1,500 mark for career assists, while co-captain Craig Steszewski will look to reach the 500 career dig mark. Jeremy Fontaine has the opportunity to tally 100 career aces in the upcoming matches.

Up next for Endicott is the NECVA (Northeast Collegiate Volleyball Association) championship in New York City, hosted by City College of New York. Endicott's first round match-up is with Philadelphia Biblical University at 6 PM on Friday, April 4. The winner of that match will play third seeded Steven's Tech in the quarterfinals, at 3 PM on Saturday. If the Gulls win the championship, they will go on to the Molten Championship (Men's Div. III Final Four) the following weekend. If not, they will host the ECAC-North Championship on Saturday, April 12.