Box Score
 
BANNER ELK, NC—The Lees-McRae men's volleyball team rallied back from being down 2-0 Thursday against visiting NJIT, closing out the match with a 3-2 men's volleyball non-conference victory at Williams Gymnasium.
 
The Bobcats improve to 16-8 on the season while the Highlanders fall to 4-17 overall.  In the first meeting of the season, Lees-McRae defeated the Highlanders 3-1 in Newark. 
 
The Highlanders jumped on top early taking the first two sets, 25-23, 25-18 after hitting .312 and .471, respectively.  NJIT combined for seven errors on 49 attempts and put away 25 kills taking the 2-0 lead.
 
The Bobcats, winners of last four of their last six matches, rallied back, taking the next three frames 25-22, 25-17, and 15-13 to earn the win.
 
Lees-McRae's Jose Ribas led the match with 23 kills for a .378 hitting percentage on 45 swings and six errors.  Two other Bobcats had eight kills apiece – Joshua Jones and Matt Harpenau. 
 
Bobcats' setter Randy Ramirez piled up a match-high 49 assists while Efrain Negron dug-up a match-high 10 digs for the home team.
 
Lees-McRae held a slight advantage in the team blocks with a 9.0-to-8.5 edge, led by John Lucas with five total blocks (one solo, four assists).
 
NJIT was led by sophomore Kajetan Borecki who combined for 13 kills and five digs.  Dhruv Lad, who was the team leader Tuesday at Limestone with 16 kills, ranked second Thursday with 11 kills, followed by sophomore Chris Kaepernick with 10. 
 
Senior Doug Battersby was one kill-shy notching double-figures combining for nine kills and four total blocks (one solo, three assists) for the Highlanders.
 
Senior setter Matthew Lui piled up a team-high 44 assists and five digs while libero Brady Smith led the visitors defensively with nine digs.  Borecki and Lad followed with five digs apiece.
 
Senior middle Kevin Van Oss led the Highlanders in front with four total blocks (two solo, two assists) along with Battersby's four total blocks.
 
The Highlanders will close out its Spring Break trip at Pfeiffer on Friday at 7pm. 
 
NJIT will host EIVA opponent Rutgers-Newark on Tuesday, March 26 at 7pm.  Tuesday will be Senior Day for seven graduating seniors.