Box score
NEWARK, NJ—NJIT scored its first Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Hay Division win of the season, topping visiting Harvard 3-1 (25-19, 25-22, 25-27, 25-17) Saturday afternoon in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
The Highlanders were paced on the attack by Adam Feehan, who had 13 kills, and Adam Gustafson, with 12 kills.
Doug Battersby, who has been mostly a hitter in college with NJIT, returned to setter, the position he played when he was the 2008 North Jersey Player of the Year in high school at Don Bosco Prep. The sophomore responded with a match-best 40 assists.
The Highlanders, who had an 11-3 advantage in service aces against Harvard, got four aces apiece from Kevin Van Oss and Herman Kantushov.
On defense, Brady Smith of NJIT took match honors with 13 digs, while Gustafson added 10 digs. The team blocking was even at 10-10 and Van Oss topped the Highlanders in individual blocks (1 solo, 4 assisted).
Harvard had the two top kills leaders in the match, topped by 22 for junior Matt Jones. Freshman Chris Gibbons added 15, but the rest of the Crimson squad combined for 16 kills. Sophomore Rob Lofman led Harvard in assists (38). Jones had two of his team's three aces.
Gibbons accounted for 12 digs and Derek Jansma finished with 10. Nick Madden was Harvard's top blocker with 5 block assists.
NJIT led most of the first set, trailing early and then again at 10-11 and 12-13, before an 8-2 burst made it 20-15. The Highlanders led by at least four after that.
The Highlanders were behind 10-11 in the second set before taking control with a 6-1 run. Harvard got back within a point at 18-17, but Gustafson had a kill to avert another tie and the Highlanders inched their way to the 25-22 win capped by another Gustafson kill.
Harvard averted losing by a sweep with a late rally in the third set. Down 20-23, the Crimson used a kill by Gibbons and back-to-back NJIT attack errors to tie the score at 23. Kantushov had a kill for the Highlanders on the next point, but Gibbons and Madden notched consecutive points for Harvard. Feehan re-tied the score for NJIT, 25-25, but Gibbons put the set on his team's side with two points for the 27-25 win.
The Highlanders clinched the win with their strongest set of the day, breaking a 5-5 tie with five straight points. The set was still close at 14-12, but NJIT used a 5-1 run to gain separation and then held three separate eight-point leads en route to the 25-17 match-clinching set win.
NJIT, 7-19 overall and 1-6 in the EIVA Hay, has two matches left this season. The Highlanders will wrap up the home slate on Friday with a 7 pm visit from neighboring Rutgers-Newark and the 2011 season will end with a visit to Harvard the next day. The Crimson are 8-13 overall and 0-7 in the EIVA Hay after Saturday's loss at NJIT.
