March 11, 2008

Box Score

NEWARK, NJ - NJIT closed out its 3-1 men's volleyball win over visiting New York University with an emphatic 30-17 victory in game four Tuesday night in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.

The Highlanders, who staged a late a comeback to win game one, 36-34, and then lost game two, 24-30, scored a 30-22 victory in game three. NJIT then finished off NYU with a ruthless 30-17 game four that halted the Violets' seven-match winning streak.

NJIT is 9-7, while NYU, ranked third in the national CBS College Sports Network/AVCA Division III poll, falls to 14-6.

Both teams are members of the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, but NJIT is currently in the higher power-rated Tait Division, while the Violets are in the Hay Division, so the result does not count in the EIVA standings.

The Highlanders had three men with double-figures kills totals, paced by Amobi Armstrong and Eduardo Welter with 18 kills apiece. Armstrong's 18 kills were a personal season high. Leonardo Paludo added 14 kills for NJIT.

Setter Rodrigo Correa posted 45 assists, while Paludo and Welter each served three aces. On defense, senior libero Chris Siddayao produced a season-best 13 digs, followed by Armstrong (8 digs) and Paludo (7). Sophomore Charles Bell, seeing some of his most significant action of the season, had a match-high five blocks (1 solo, 4 assists). Correa, the setter, had three block assists.

Eric Chakeen and Jon Wintermeyer headed the NYU attack with 12 kills and 11 kills, respectively, and Braden Fujikawa collected 38 assists. Fujikawa and Francis Hodgson each had two service aces. David Tener made 11 digs and Devin Zolnowski added nine for the Violets, while Hodgson's four blocks (1 solo, 3 assists) led NYU at the net.

The Highlanders, who started the match much less impressively than they finished it, fought off game point seven times before finally subduing NYU in the opening frame, 36-34.

NJIT was down, 29-27, before a do-or-die 3-1 spurt pulled the Highlanders even at 30-30. With at least a two-point bulge needed to win, NYU had the upper hand at 31-30, 33-32 and 34-33, before the Highlanders got the final three points on kills by Paludo and Welter and an attack error by the visitors. Armstrong had eight kills to lead NJIT in the set.

Bouncing back from the disappointment of having been so close, NYU played a strong second game and won easily, 30-24, led by Wintermeyer's four kills in four tries and four of the Violets' match total of six aces. NYU did not trail after breaking a 15-15 tie.

The Highlanders jumped to a 3-0 lead in the third set, but the Violets game back to tie the score at 3-3. However, NJIT soon regained the upper hand, taking a 6-5 lead and staying on top the rest of the way in their 30-22 win.

NJIT dominated the fourth and final game, taking control with a spurt that drove the score from 6-5 to 12-5 and continued to 16-7. Once the Highlanders got that 16-7 lead, the visitors did not get closer than six points.

In game four, the Highlanders had a team hitting percentage of .462 (14 kills, 2 errors, 26 attempts), led by Welter's 7 kills and no errors in nine attacks.

NJIT will play its next four matches, all during Spring Break, on the road. On March 14 and 15, the Highlanders will make their annual trip to Illinois, taking on Loyola-Chicago (ranked #15 in the latest Division I-II national poll) and Lewis, which was nationally-ranked earlier in the season. The following weekend on March 21 and 22, NJIT will play in California at the University of the Pacific, which is not ranked now, but was as high eighth before finishing 15th in the final national poll in 2007.