Box score
NEWARK, NJ—Two home matches in two nights proved too much for the NJIT men's volleyball team to build winning momentum, as the Highlanders absorbed a 3-1 loss to visiting Lees-McRae a night after NJIT had dispatched Stevens by the same score in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
Lees-McRae (6-3) played two nights earlier, but the Bobcats made the long trip from their home in Banner Elk, North Carolina. They were no worse for wear, however, roaring past the Highlanders 25-20, 25-12, 22-25, and 25-15. NJIT falls to 2-7 on the season.
The visitors dominated at the net, 14 team blocks to four for NJIT, and the Bobcats also served 10 aces. With 24 points off those departments, Lees-McRae didn't need a particularly potent attack, posting a team attack percentage of .214 (37 kills, 16 errors, 98 attempts). Indeed, the Bobcats did not have a single hitter with double-figure kills.
The Lees-McRae leader was sophomore middle Joshua Jones, who had eight kills and no errors in 14 swings (.571 hitting percentage), followed by Javier Jimenez and Jose Ribas with seven kills apiece. Matt Harpenau added six kills for the winners.
Randy Ramirez, like the hitters Jimenez and Ribas, a resident of Puerto Rico, posted 24 assists as the Bobcat setter. Ribas notched a match-best four service aces, followed by John Lucas (3 aces).
On defense, Ribas' eight digs tied for match honors, while Ramirez, Jimenez and Efrain Negron, also from Puerto Rico, finished with seven digs each. Jones, the middle from Florida had 10 blocks (2 solo, 8 assists) and Ribas had seven on a block solo and six assisted blocks.
NJIT, which had 16 attack errors in addition to its 14 errors on Lees-McRae blocks, hit just .100 as a team (41 kills, 30 errors, 110 attempts).
Doug Battersby was by far the most effective hitter for the Highlanders, notching a match-best 12 kills, with only two errors in 18 swings (.556).
Kevin Van Oss chipped in nine kills. Setter
Matthew Lui logged 26 assists for the Highlanders.
Herman Kantushov served three of his team's five aces.
Kantushov and
Brady Smith paced the NJIT floor defense, as each dug eight Lees-McRae attacks. Van Oss and Battersby, each with a block solo and a block assist led the Highlanders in that department.
The first and third sets were close, as Lees-McRae took the first frame 25-20 and NJIT prevailed in the third, 25-22. However, the Bobcats came out on top easily in the second (25-12) and fourth (25-15).
The opening set had seven ties, the last at 12-12, before Lees-McRae used an 8-3 spurt to gain the upper hand. NJIT held a 5-3 lead early in the second set, but a 9-3 Bobcat run turned the momentum around for the rest of the set and a 6-1 set-ending spurt sealed the 25-12 win for the visitors.
The Highlanders never trailed and experienced one tie (3-3) en route to a 25-22 victory in the third set. NJIT opened with an early 8-3 lead and went on top 17-11 before the visitors rallied with four straight points to get within two of the lead. However, the Highlanders answered with a 4-1 spurt of their own and led by at least four once the achieved their 19th point of the set. Battersby was especially strong in the winning set, getting five kills with one error in six swings.
With its set lead down to 2-1, Lees-McRae came back for a 25-15 win in the fourth set to clinch the match, as the Bobcats scored the first two points of the final set and ended with a wire-to-wire 25-15 win.
The Highlanders are off more than week before they open Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association play on Friday, February 15, with a 7 pm home match in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center against Princeton.
