Box Score
 

NEWARK, NJ – Mount Olive topped New Jersey Institute of Technology 3-1 (31-29, 30-25, 31-33, 30-25), in first-round play in the Golden Dome Classic men's volleyball tournament hosted by Rutgers-Newark Friday evening.

NJIT, 2-1, fell despite a match-high 20 kills from Amobi Armstrong.  Junior Charles Bell notched 17 kills and Robert Thomas had a .383 attack percentage on four kills and one error in eight attempts.

Senior Rodrigo Correa and freshman Adam Gustafson split time at the setting position piling up 25 and 23 assists respectively.  Armstrong and rookie Glen DeMagalhaes paced the Highlanders defensively, with 10 digs apiece.

The Highlanders combined for five service aces led by Armstrong with three as Mount Olive recorded 10 – five by Jose Lanier.

Mount Olive now, 4-2 on the season, had four players in double-digits in the kills' category.  Noel Garcia led the Trojans with 16 kills followed by Pedro Penate and Christian Rombaut with 15 apiece.  Also contributing to the Mount Olive offense was Lanier with 10. 

Alex Hoekstra had a match-high 52 assists for the Trojans, who got 10 digs from Felix Reimundo and five blocks from Mike Carroll.

The second round of the annual two-day tournament will feature NJIT against East Stroudsburg on Saturday at 4:30 pm.

Saturday's contest will be the second meeting of the year for both teams.  NJIT defeated East Stroudsburg 3-1 in its season-opener on January 23 in Newark.