Box score
NEWARK, NJ—NJIT played one of its strongest matches of the year, but fell in four sets to visiting Saint Francis (PA) Saturday afternoon in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
Both teams play in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, but Saint Francis (8-8) is in the higher power-rated Tait Division.
Rebuilding NJIT (5-13) plays in the EIVA's second power-rated Hay Division, having last played in the Tait in 2009 before being relegated to the Hay in 2010. In 2008, the Highlanders, competing in the Tait, advanced all the way to the semifinals of the EIVA playoffs, hosted by eventual national champion Penn State.
On Saturday, NJIT, which also lost 3-1 when the Highlanders visited Saint Francis in Loretto, PA, on January 23, held its own in all four sets of the rematch in Newark. Saturday's scores for Saint Francis were: 24-26, 28-26, 25-22, 25-23.
Saint Francis had two double-figures kills men in the attack, led by a match-best 14 from sophomore Adam Roche. Freshman Logan Patterson added 13 kills.
Junior setter Ryan Williams had a match-high 47 assists, while senior Eric Syty, with 4 aces, led the visitors to a 7-3 advantage in that category.
On defense, senior libero Markus Schulze collected 13 digs to lead both teams in that category.
The team blocking was extremely close, despite the fact that Saint Francis has exceptional height across its lineup and NJIT is undersized for a Division I team. The Red Flash used seven players 6-foot-6, or taller. NJIT had two players that tall. That said, the team totals were 12 blocks for Saint Francis to 11.5 for NJIT.
The top individual blocker for the Red Flash was 6-3 freshman Colin Sherwin, who had a block solo and 5 block assists. Roche, 6-6, had 4 block assists and a block solo, and Syty, 6-8, had 4 block assists.
On the other side of the net, NJIT's 6-foot-5 sophomore Doug Battersby had 7 total blocks (1 solo, 6 assisted). Adam Gustafson, a fine blocker at 6-feet even, added 4 block assists, and NJIT's tallest player, 6-8 sophomore Kevin Van Oss had a block solo and 3 block assists.
Gustafson notched 12 kills to pace the Highlander attack, while Matthew Lui was credited with 33 assists. Three different players accounted for one ace apiece.
Brady Smith logged 12 digs for NJIT and Lui, the setter, added 10.
There were 13 ties and five lead changes in the first set, won by NJIT, 26-24. Down, 23-24, and facing set point, the Highlanders came back to win on a kill by Dhruv Lad and then two hitting errors by the visitors.
Saint Francis opened the second set, 6-0, but NJIT crawled back into contention, but didn't draw even until late, 22-22. Trailing, 22-23, took the next two points on a kill by Andrei Stoyanow and a Saint Francis error. But the Red Flash swung back with two points of its own before its service error made the score 25-25.
NJIT resisted set point one more time when Gustafson's kill made it 26-26, but an NJIT service error and a Roche kill gave the set to the visitors.
The third set was last tied at 21 apiece, but Saint Francis went 4-1 the rest of the way to prevail, 25-22.
The Highlanders opened the fourth set with a strong start that included scores of 9-4 and later 12-7. They stayed on top until Saint Francis knotted the score at 14, thanks to an NJIT hitting error.
Neither team led by more than two points from there until the final tie of the day, 22-22. Finally, Saint Francis got a kill from Syty and an ace from Patterson for a 24-22. As it had all day, NJIT prolonged set point, when Stoyanow registered his ninth kill of the day to make it 23-24. But Alex Kane's strong swing on the next play resulted in a kill and the set and match went to Saint Francis.
Next up for the Highlanders is a challenging trip to Illinois for matches at Lewis on Friday at 7 pm (CDT) and at Loyola Chicago on Saturday at 7 pm (CDT). Both teams from the powerful Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Associationare 13-5 overall and Loyola is 12th and Lewis is 14th in the latest AVCA Men's Coaches National Division I-II poll.
Lewis, in Romeoville, IL, is the undergraduate alma mater of NJIT's two head volleyball coaches, men's coach Ryan McNeil and women's coach JR Martins. McNeil played for the 1998 national semifinalists at Lewis and also began his coaching career there. Martins was a captain and starter on the Lewis team that won the 2003 NCAA championship match (later vacated by administrative action).
