Jan. 14, 2006

Box Score

NEWARK, NJ - New Jersey Institute of Technology's trio of Brazilians led the offense in the Highlanders' season-opening 3-0 men's volleyball sweep of visiting Mount Olive Saturday afternoon.

The Highlanders won all three games by impressive scores, sweeping to wins of 30-15, 30-15 and 30-19 against the visitors from North Carolina. It was the first match of the season for both squads.

Brazilians Leonardo Paludo and Eduardo Welter were NJIT's kills leaders, with 15 and 14, respectively. Rodrigo Correa, a freshman setter, also from Brazil, collected 26 assists in triggering the Highlanders' offense.

Paludo, a sophomore transfer, made his NJIT debut. Welter, also a sophomore, had a flawless day attacking, notching 14 kills without an error on 26 attempts for a .538 attack percentage. As a freshman, Welter led the nation in aces per game and was 14th in kills per game. He served 3 aces on Saturday and had 4 block assists on defense.

On defense, NJIT sophomore Greg Wagner had 10 digs and 3 blocks, while Brian Como made a match-high 5 blocks. Christianssen Siddayao had 9 digs.

For Mount Olive, Cesar Trigo de Serra had 8 kills, Zach Wilson had 24 assists and Kris Suarez had 10 digs.

NJIT will travel to the Midwest next weekend, visiting Illinois for a match at Lewis on Friday night and then a match at Loyola Chicago on Saturday.