Box score
HONOLULU--Hawaii, ranked 13th in the national Division I-II men's volleyball poll, took its second 3-0 win from visiting NJIT in two days, sweeping the Highlanders, 30-23, 30-19, and 30-23 Saturday in front of 2,351 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Brennon Dyer and Josh Walker each had 10 kills to lead the Warriors, who are regularly in the men's volleyball national Top 15. Setter Nejc Nemljak had 44 assists and also picked up six kills and five block assists for the home team. Hawaii, which had a 7-0 advantage over the Highlanders in service aces, got two each from Walker and Nemljak.
Steven Grgas added five block assists to share the Hawai'i individual blocks lead with Nemljak. Michael China was the defensive leader on the floor for the Warriors, collecting seven digs.
NJIT's leader on the attack was Brazilian freshman Raphael Mattos, who had 10 kills. Robert Thomas (6 kills, 1 error, 10 attacks) and Amobi Armstrong (5 kills, 1 error, 12 attacks) were solid with hitting percentages of .500 and .333, respectively, and Rodrigo Correa had 26 assists for the Highlanders.
On defense, Adam Gustafson again led NJIT in digs with seven, following his match-best 12 digs against Hawai'i on Friday night.
On Saturday, the Highlanders showed tremendous improvement in their blocking over the first night in the series, when they were out blocked by the Warriors, 11-2. On Saturday, it was 10-10 at the net and Steve Sylvester led the way for NJIT with four individual blocks, two solo and two assists. Mattos had two block solos, as well, leading the Highlanders with 12 points. Thomas had three block assists.
The Highlanders led early in the first set, but the Warriors rallied in the middle and went on to a 30-23 win paced by Dyer's six kills.
Hawai'i dominated the second set, hitting .452 as a team, and the home team closed out its first-ever series against NJIT with a wire-to-wire 30-23 win in the third set.
The Highlanders, who have played their last nine matches on the road, will return to the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center on Friday for a two-day set of home matches in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Tait Division.
The weekend matches begin Friday at 7 pm when the Highlanders host Saint Francis (PA) and continue on Saturday with a 5 pm match against Juniata in the Fleisher Athletic Center.
