January 20, 2006

Box Score

ROMEOVILLE, IL - New Jersey Institute of Technology began its brief Midwest men's volleyball trip with a rousing 3-2 win over traditional power Lewis University Friday night.

The Highlanders, now 2-0, defeated Lewis, 31-29, 30-26, 26-30, 27-30, 15-10. Lewis is 2-2 on the season.

Lewis is the alma mater of NJIT head coach Ryan McNeil, who played on the Flyers' 1998 national semifinalists. He also began his coaching career there, working as an assistant coach with the women's team for four years and the men's team for two years, before coming to NJIT at the start of the 2004-05 academic year.

On March 12, 2005, in McNeil's first season as NJIT head coach, the Highlanders met Lewis in Fairfax, Virginia and Lewis won handily, 30-21, 30-24 and 30-22.

On Friday night in Lewis' home opener, the Highlanders got a match-high 24 kills from Leonardo Paludo, while Eduardo Welter added 21 kills and a match-high 12 digs. Greg Wagner had 11 kills and just 3 errors in 20 attempts.

Freshman setter Rodrigo Correa had 61 assists, priming an NJIT offense that checked in with a strong .351 attack percentage.

NJIT closed out the victory with a .643 attack percentage (10 kills, 1 error, 14 attempts) in the deciding game. At the same time, Lewis' .125 hitting percentage (7 k, 5 e, 16 att.) in the game was its lowest of the match. The Highlanders jumped to an insurmountable 9-3 lead to open the deciding game that they eventually won, 15-10.

Having passed the first test of the two-day trip, the Highlanders will visit Loyola University Chicago, ranked 12th in the latest USA Today/AVCA Division I-II national poll. The Highlanders take on Loyola on Saturday night.