Box Score
NEWARK, NJ – The NJIT men's volleyball team swept Hunter, 3-0, registering its first victory of the 2012 season Friday afternoon in the opening round of the Golden Dome Invitational hosted by Rutgers-Newark.
The Highlanders (1-3) won in straight sets 25-23, 25-23 and 25-12 paced by freshman
TJ Jurko's 11 kills and senior
Adam Gustafson's 10.
Kevin Van Oss contributed nine kills on 11 attempts with no errors for a .818 hitting percentage.
Freshman
Zak Robben and junior
Matthew Lui divided the setting duties for NJIT with Robben coming away with a team-high 21 assists while Lui collected 12.
On the floor, freshman
Oren Zyndorf accounted for nine of his team's 30 digs.
Doug Battersby and Van Oss shared match-high honors in front of the net with four total blocks (1 solo, 3 assists) for Battersby and four block assists for Van Oss. The Highlanders held an 8-5 team blocks advantage and the three service aces by Van Oss was also a match-high with NJIT holding a slight advantage, 6-3.
Hunter (0-2) was led by Chris Newcomb's match-high 14 kills while setter Stanley Martinez piled up a match-high 24 assists, four digs and three block assists. Jerin Kallickal and Eric Barty dug-up seven digs apiece for Hunter.
In the first frame, NJIT jumped out to an 8-4 lead on an attack error by Hunter resulting in a Hawk timeout. The Highlanders extended its lead to five, 16-11, but the Hawks would rally back to within two points of the Highlanders, 24-22, on a kill by Newcomb. NJIT scored the final two points of the match for a 25-23 victory.
The second set was close all the way, with Hunter taking a 17-15 advantage on a kill by Barty. The score became tied four times late in the set, the final at 23-23 on a kill by Hunter's Newcomb. After a kill by NJIT's Gustafson and attack error by the Hawks, the Highlanders closed out the set, 25-23.
The winners jumped out 11-4 to open the third set and later went up 18-8. Hunter scored the next two points but the Highlanders closed out the set on a 7-2 spurt for a 25-12 victory.
Next up for the Highlanders is day two of the Golden Dome Invitational, which will feature NJIT and host Rutgers-Newark at 7:30pm.
