Box score
NEWARK, NJ—Visiting IPFW rallied late to win the first set from NJIT in men's volleyball, 26-24, and the Mastodons went on to a 3-0 win (26-24, 25-15, 25-20) in the season opener for both squads Friday night in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
IPFW sophomore Elon Fyfield notched a match-best 7 kills to lead the attack, followed by Eddie Rivera Marin (6 kills) and Ivan Matos (5, all in the third set).
The Mastodons from Fort Wayne, Indiana, used two setters in the match and Adam Quinn had 15 assists, while Dan Mader posted 14 assists. IPFW, with a 5-2 advantage in service aces, was paced in that category by Phil Peterson (2).
The much taller visitors dominated the team blocking, 12-4, led individually by Rob Samp (5 total; 1 solo; 4 assists). Rivera Marin, who is not especially tall at 6-foot-2, added 4 blocks (1 solo; 3 assists). The freshman from Puerto Rico also led his team's floor defense with 9 digs.
NJIT's attack leaders were junior Adam Gustafson and sophomore Andrei Stoyanow, with 6 kills apiece. Matthew Lui picked up a match-best 19 assists to open his second season as setter for the Highlanders.
Gustafson and freshman Herman Kantushov each had a service ace for NJIT. Sophomore libero Brady Smith had 9 digs, Kantushov had 7 and Stoyanow 6 for the Highlanders. Gustafson and Doug Battersby were the blocking leaders for the home team, as each had a pair of block assists.
NJIT's strongest set, by far, was the first, as the Highlanders conceded the first point, but then scored the next two and led all the way until very late, when the Mastodons, who had trailed, 23-24, scored the last three points to pull out the 26-24 win.
The Highlanders had led by as many as 4 points on four different occasions, the latest at 21-17, but were ultimately unable to get the elusive set point down the stretch, as IPFW scored two of the decisive last three points on blocks.
Sophomore Kevin Van Oss was deadly in the middle of the NJIT attack in that set, scoring all five of his kills for the night in the opening frame. Fyfield, a high-flying Massachusetts native, had five kills in the set for the visitors.
IPFW, picked to finish fifth in the powerful Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, dominated the second set, 25-15. Coach Arnie Ball, who is in his 31st season leading the Mastodons, used the third set to spot in some of his backups, who completed the sweep in a competitive frame, 25-20.
NJIT held a 19-16 lead in the third set and appeared to go up 20-18, when the point was reversed for interference and the score changed to 19-19. The Mastodons held serve and stayed on a roll that saw them close out the set and match on a 9-1 spurt.
NJIT will host IPFW in the second leg of the two-match weekend series on Saturday at 7 pm in the Fleisher Athletic Center.
