NEWARK, NJ—Visiting Sacred Heart won the fifth and deciding set, 15-12, to claim a 3-2 win over NJIT in Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Hay Division action Friday night in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.

Sacred Heart, which had defeated NJIT in this season's first meeting between the schools, 3-1, on February 3 in Connecticut, won the first, third, and fifth sets in the rematch, while NJIT won the second and fourth sets by comfortable margins, but could not pull out the win in the final set.

The final line for victorious Sacred Heart was 30-28, 24-30, 30-24, 22-30, and 15-12.

Sacred Heart (6-5 overall and 3-0 in the EIVA Hay) had a balanced attack, with 15 kills for senior Kalani Efstathiou, 14 kills for junior Roger Parent and 10 kills for junior Craig Harvey. Parent had a team-best 10 digs on defense.

Junior setter Tim Sadowski notched 49 assists and a match-best four service aces, leading the visitors to a 7-2 edge in that category.  He also had a block solo and seven block assists.

The Pioneers also had a 17-9 team blocking advantage, led by sophomore Mike Komlanc (9 block assists).

The Highlanders (1-8, 1-2 EIVA Hay) lost despite stellar attacking performances from freshmen Kevin Van Oss (27 kills) and Christian Puszies (25 kills). Senior Charles Bell contributed 11 kills, as well. Another freshman, setter Matthew Lui, registered 69 assists for the Highlanders.

Four different NJIT players had double-figure digs totals, led by 17 for Puszies. Sophomore Adam Gustafson was another defensive standout, contributing 15 digs on the floor and sharing the team blocking lead with six. Freshman Doug Battersby, like Gustafson, had a block solo and five block assists.

Freshman libero Brady Smith picked up 14 digs and Lui, the setter, had 10.

NJIT scored the first point in the deciding set, but Sacred Heart responded with three points and led the rest of the way. The Pioneers did not go up by more than three points, but they had the answer all three times the Highlanders closed to within a point.

The Pioneers posted a .467 team hitting percentage in the set, with eight kills and just one error in 15 swings. On the other side, NJIT hurt its own cause with six attack errors, which were especially painful since they provided 40 percent of the points Sacred Heart needed to secure the win.

The first set was extremely tight, with the Pioneers edging the Highlanders, 30-28, in a set that featured 10 ties. Sacred Heart prevailed after breaking a 27-27 tie on a kill by Harvey, which preceded an NJIT attack error. Harvey had five kills in the set for SHU, offsetting a nine-kill set for NJIT's Van Oss.

NJIT pulled even in the match with a 30-24 win in the second set, paced by seven kills for Puszies. The Highlanders, who led from 19-18 on, took control with a 5-0 run from 24-23 to 29-23.

Sacred Heart bounced back with a 30-24 win of its own in the third set, led by Parent's six kills and a team blocking advantage of 7-1, with five different Pioneers recording at least two individual blocks in the set. The set was tied as late as 24-24, but the visitors ran off six straight points—four on blocks—to clinch the set.

NJIT equalized the match with an impressive 30-22 win in the fourth set, keyed by an impressive .433 team attack percentage. Puszies and Van Oss each had five kills for the Highlanders, who trailed, 2-0, but came back and went ahead to stay at 4-3 on Puszies' first kill of the set.

Next up for NJIT is a short trip down Warren Street for another EIVA Hay Division match at Rutgers-Newark on Tuesday at 7 pm.