HOBOKEN, N.J. (4/17/2025) – The Nichols College men's volleyball team earned its first ever victory in an NCAA Division III Tournament on Thursday night, defeating Randolph-Macon College, 3-1 in the 2025 NCAA Play-In game.

The Bison officially advance to the First Round of the Tournament to face host No. 3 Stevens Insititute of Technology (25-4, 8-0 MAC) on Friday, April 18^th at 4:00 PM. Nichols now stands at 20-14 (6-0 NEVC) on the season.

Graduate student Tanner Soracco paced the offense with 13 kills on .478 hitting, in addition to seven digs defensively. Classmate Jack Normandin also broke into double-figure kills, scoring 12 with a team-high 14 digs for his fourth double-double of the season. Sophomore libero Cade Bernardi helped out defensively with 12 digs, while Chandler Olson and Evan Sachs served as the playmakers with 23 and 21 assists, respectively. As a team, the Bison hit .310 in the win, while RMU hit .224 on the opposite side.

To start, the Bison opened up a 12-7 advantage midway through the first set, courtesy of a 3-0 run capped off by a kill by Soracco. The two sides swapped the next handful of points, until another 4-0 run by the Bison doubled-up their lead to 20-10, powered by three Yellow Jacket errors and a Normandin kill. Randolph-Macon caught Nichols' attention late in the frame by firing off their own 4-0 run, but the Bison would prevail nonetheless as Knapp connected for the winning kill shortly thereafter.

The Bison replicated their first-set success by firing off the first three points of the second, eventually climbing to a 13-6 lead on a kill by Normandin. The ensuing play evened out between the two sides as Randolph-Macon slowly closed in to just a five-point deficit at 20-15, but Nichols soon regained their composure and fired off a 4-2 run to bring the action to set point, 24-17, ending with a Bradyn Pomainville kill. The Bison then finished off the win on a final kill by Knapp, with the assist coming from Evan Sachs.

The Bison were not so fortunate in the early stages of the third, as this time it was Randolph-Macon taking the early advantage, helping them along to a 25-18 win to put them on the board in the match, 2-1.

The fourth set was an all-out battle between the two teams, with neither side gaining more than a two-point edge over the other up to a 16-15 score in favor of Nichols. However, the Bison came alive late with three straight points to gain a 19-15 lead, which proved to be enough to hold them the rest of the way, with Soracco delivering the winning kill.
 
The Bison and Ducks both met back on January 17th, for the first match of the year as they faced off at The Clash at Kean. Stevens topped Nichols in straight sets 25-19, 25-21, 25-22.