Box score

NEWARK, NJ—Visiting Pfeiffer lost the first set to NJIT, but then stormed back to win the next three in a 3-1 non-conference men's volleyball win for the Falcons Saturday night in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
Pfeiffer, which plays in Conference Carolinas, has won its last eight consecutive matches after dropping its season opener against Ball State. The Highlanders (6-8) won Saturday's first set, 25-18, before Pfeiffer turned the tables with 25-18 wins in the second and third sets, followed by a 25-23 result in the tightly-contested clincher.
 
Three Falcons registered double-figure kills totals, topped by sophomore Quentin Moore's match-best 18. Eric Edelman had 14 and CJ Coatsworth added 12 for the winners. Freshman setter David Specian piled up a match-leading 50 assists for Pfeiffer.
 
Pfeiffer served three aces to two for the Highlanders, but the Falcons hurt themselves with 15 serving errors to just five for NJIT. The five aces in the match were served by five different players.
 
On defense, Pfeiffer libero Mark Hess led everyone with 19 digs on the floor.
 
The Falcons dominated the defense at the net, notching 13 team blocks to 4.5 for NJIT and also disrupting the NJIT offense by deflecting numerous attacks, especially in the second set when momentum was shifting in Pfeiffer's direction.
 
Lance Johnson, a sophomore middle, had nine block assists, which, translated into team blocks, matched the output of the entire Highlander team. Edelman, a junior outside hitter, added seven block assists for the winners.
 
NJIT's leader in kills was freshman Aurel Griesshammer, with 13. He was the only Highlander in double-figures, but Kevin Van Oss had nine kills with only two errors in 18 swings (.389 attack percentage).
 
Freshman setter Zak Robben had 31 assists for the Highlanders and he also led the team with 10 digs. Libero Brady Smith finished with nine digs. Griesshammer, with three block assists, was the NJIT leader in that category.
 
NJIT won the first set, 25-18, and appeared to be the better team in all areas, hitting at a .310 clip to .167 for Pfeiffer, serving the only ace of the set and even winning the team blocking 2.5-to-1 (it would be 2-to-12 the rest of the way).
 
The Highlanders never trailed in the first set and led by eight points at 17-9, 18-10, 20-12, and 22-14. Three straight Pfeiffer points foreshadowed the trouble to come for NJIT, but the Highlanders used a Pfeiffer error, a block and a Griesshammer kill to score three of the last four points and close out the set.
 
The momentum completely flipped in the second set, as the Falcons notched seven team blocks, which were a big part of the Highlanders hitting just seven kills to nine errors for a negative attack percentage of -.061 in the set. NJIT also had 17 zero attacks (neither a kill nor an error) and most of them were either deflected or altered by the Pfeiffer blockers. Johnson and Edelman had four block assists apiece in the set.
 
On offense, Coatsworth put down six kills without an error in eight swings (.750 hitting percentage) in the set.
 
NJIT, which led the set 10-7, then fell behind by three points twice, the latest at 14-17, before getting back to 16-17 and 17-18. But Pfeiffer used a 7-1 run to close out the set and pull even.
 
The third set was the sloppiest for both teams, but Pfeiffer led most of the way, going on top to stay at 4-3. The closest NJIT got in the late going was 16-19 on a kill for Herman Kantushov, but the Falcons answered with five straight points and won easily.
 
The fourth set was the closest, with 14 ties and no lead bigger than two for either side. The last tie was 20-20, with Pfeiffer gaining the upper hand on an NJIT service error and then an ace by Coatsworth. The Highlanders got back within a point three more times, two on kills for Griesshammer, the second at 23-24. But Pfeiffer secured matched point on a hard kill into the floor in front of the NJIT back line by Moore.
 
The Highlanders will play a non-conference series of two matches, on Friday and one on Saturday in Fort Wayne against IPFW. Both matches begin at 7 pm.