Feb. 25, 2007

Box Score

NEWARK, NJ - New Jersey Institute of Technology scored one of its most impressive men's volleyball wins in recent years, defeating George Mason, 3-1, in the second round of the Golden Dome Classic hosted by Rutgers-Newark Sunday evening.

One of the top programs in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, George Mason finished last season at 22-6 overall and the Patriots tied Penn State for first place in the EIVA's top power-rated division, the Tait, at 11-1 in the regular season. The Patriots were 14th in the final 2006 national rankings.

NJIT, meanwhile, is on the comeback trail, last season having made the EIVA playoffs for the first time since 2000. This season, the Highlanders won their first five matches and Sunday's win makes them 9-2 overall. In the Hay Division, whose first-place team earns promotion to the Tait Division the following year, NJIT is 5-1 halfway through the division schedule.

On the first day of play in the Golden Dome Classic, which included three teams from the EIVA Tait--host Rutgers-Newark, George Mason and Juniata, along with NJIT, the Highlanders lost to Juniata and George Mason swept Rutgers-Newark.

On Sunday, NJIT bounced back for its impressive win, defeating Mason, 30-24, 24-30, 30-23 and 30-25.

Having been hurt by a subpar .210 team attack percentage in losing to Juniata, the Highlanders came back for a .312 attack percentage in beating the Patriots.

Leonardo Paludo, who has taken his game up a notch from a strong 2006 campaign, not only had a match-high 29 kills against George Mason, he did it efficiently, generating a .423 attack percentage, with just 7 errors in 52 attempts.

Amobi Armstrong added 14 kills, while Charles Bell (13) and Greg Wagner (10) were also in double figures for kills. Wagner had only one error in 19 attacks for a .474 percentage. Rodrigo Correa triggered the attack with 63 assists--16 more than anyone else in the match.

The Highlanders' floor defense was also strong, as they had 59 digs to 44 for the Patriots. Eduardo Welter led the way with 15 digs, followed by Paludo (13) and Armstrong (10).

For George Mason, Kyle Gramit had 26 kills, Billy Freesmeier had 47 assists, Graham Sheppard had 13 digs and Kyle Swanson had a match-high 5 blocks.

Paludo and Correa of NJIT were named to the All-Golden Dome Classic Team. Also named were: Gramit of George Mason, Matt Fritz and Dan Powers of Juniata and Kenny Rienecker of Rutgers-Newark. Matt Werle, the setter for Juniata, which defeated Rutgers-Newark Sunday to finish the tournament 2-0, was named the Star-Ledger/NJ.com Most Valuable Player.

Next up for the Highlanders is a trip to Illinois, where they will take on two strong programs--Lewis, on March 2, and Loyola of Chicago on March 3. Lewis, the alma mater of NJIT head coach Ryan McNeil and assistant coach JR Martins, won the 2003 national championship match and Loyola is ranked 11th in the latest national poll.