The Bard College men's volleyball team has one more trip to make - and it's going to take a couple of upsets to make it a really memorable trip.
The Raptors (20-12) are the No. 4 seed in the Eastern College Athletic Conference South Region Championships, to be played on Saturday at Stevenson University in Owings Mills, Md.
Bard will play No. 1 seed Ramapo (17-12), which has won four ECAC Championships since 2005. Bard played Ramapo the day before the Skyline Championships and lost, 3-0. That first match will be played at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
At 1 p.m., No. 2 seed Stevenson (24-7) will play No. 3 seed Hunter (18-13). Hunter has won the last three ECAC South Region titles, but lost a dual match to Stevenson earlier in the year.
At 3:30 p.m., the semifinal winners will meet for the title.
TEAM CAPSULES
RAMAPO - The Roadrunners have a three-pronged attack in outside hitters freshman Jeff Jones (2.67 kills per set, .256), junior Paul Konopacki (2.46, .346) and senior Andrew Brown (2.31, .157). Freshman Andrew Balint is the primary setter with a 9.39 assists average. Senior defensive specialist Kevin McNerney tops the team with 2.7 digs per set. Jones and Balint have 22 aces apiece. Ramapo beat Bard and split with Stevenson this season.
STEVENSON - The Mustangs are led offensively by freshman outside hitter Austin Jacoby, who averages 3.98 kills per set and hits .280. He also has a team-best 25 service aces and accounted for 24.7 percent of Stevenson's total points of 1654. Sophomore setter Kyle Diller averages 9.72 assist; Jacoby, freshman outside hitter Kalani Soeda (2.32 kps) and freshman opposite Jon Martin (2.88) are his primary attacking targets. Freshman outside hitter/libero Adam Thatcher and Martin spearhead the team defensively with 218 and 217 digs, respectively, while freshman middle hitter Eddy Klepper contributes a 1.10 block average.
HUNTER - Middle blockers Eric Barty, a junior, and Braien Otsla, a sophomore, lead a potent offensive attack with 3.12 and 3.1 kills per set, respectively. Both players hit over .300 to complement sophomore middle blocker John Gemegah, who paces the team with a .402 attack percentage while averaging 1.92 kills. Gemegah also ranks first on the team in total blocks with 72. Freshman setter Stanley Martinez averages 9.21 assists.
BARD - The Raptors are led offensively by junior outside hitter
Nick Chan (Victor, N.Y.) who leads all players heading into the ECAC South Championship with a 4.08 kill average.
Elijah Strauss (Queens, N.Y.), a senior middle blocker, has a team-best .316 hitting percentage and contributes 2.12 kills per set. Freshman setter
Henry Kasiske (Los Angeles, Calif.) averages 9.72 assists, junior libero
Andrew Cortrite records 3.55 digs and junior middle blocker
Ryan Fallon turns aside 0.80 blocks per set.