Box Score
 
GAFFNEY, SC—The NJIT men's volleyball team fell 3-1 at Limestone Tuesday in men's volleyball non-conference action at the Timken Center.
 
Limestone defeated visiting NJIT, 29-27, 25-27, 25-23 and 25-22, improving to an even 11-11 on the season while the Highlanders drop to 4-16 overall.
 
Kevin Hart paced Limestone with a match-high 17 kills on 33 swings combining for a .424 hitting percentage with just three errors.  Limestone had two other players reach double-figure kills – Scott Warren (15) and Andrew Miller (10).
 
Setter Andrew Pile notched a double-double with 46 assists and a match-high 10 digs.  Eric Zaun and Hart each posted eight digs defensively for the home team.
 
Limestone held an 11-to-4 team blocking advantage led by Miller (7 assists) and Warren (6 assists).  Limestone also held a slight advantage in service aces 6-to-4 led by Hart with three.
 
The Highlanders were led by junior Dhruv Lad's team-high 16 kills followed by Chris Kaepernick (12) and Doug Battersby (11). 
 
Senior Herman Kantushov playing in two sets Tuesday, hit .429 with seven kills, one error on 14 swings.  Ryan Thomas added seven kills on 13 attempts with two errors for a .385 hitting percentage.
 
Setter Matthew Lui registered 46 assists and nine digs – just missing a double-double while libero Brady Smith matched Lui with nine digs defensively.  Kaepernick and Lad each dug-up seven digs.
 
NJIT took a 14-11 advantage in the opening set before Limestone notched back-to-back points to cut it to one, 14-13. The visitors went on a 6-2 run stretching the Highlanders lead to five, 20-15. The Saints went on a run of their own, scoring five consecutive points knotting the score at 20.
 
The Highlanders found themselves at set-point, 25-24, but the Saints tied it with a kill by Hart. The teams saw two more ties before a pair of NJIT attack errors gave Limestone a 29-27 victory.
 
The second set was played close, with neither team leading by more than three points.  NJIT, with a 17-14 advantage, later found itself at a deadlock at 20-20. The match seesawed back and forth until the set was tied at 25. Finally, a Battersby kill and an attack error by Limestone gave the Highlanders the win at 27-25.
 
The Saints gained control of the third frame early, 7-1, resulting in an NJIT timeout.  The Highlanders battled back, coming within one of the Saint, 10-9, and later took a 15-14 advantage behind a 14-7 run.
 
Limestone scored the next four points pulling ahead of the Highlanders, 18-15, and would extend to 21-17. NJIT rallied back coming with two of the Saints, 23-21 and later within one, 24-23, but a kill by Miller gave the Saints a 25-23 victory.
 
In the final frame, Limestone scored the first three points and the teams would go back and forth, seeing eight ties, the final at 18 after a kill by NJIT's Lad.  Limestone went on a short 3-1 run pulling ahead of the Highlanders, 21-19, after a kill by Hart.
 
The Highlander got as close as one, 22-21 after a kill by Battersby, but Limestone finished off the set on a 3-1 run for a 25-22 victory.
 
NJIT will visit Lees-McRae and Pfeiffer in North Carolina on March 21 and 22, respectively.  Earlier in the season, Lees-McRae took a 3-1 victory in Newark on February 7.