Box Score
 
MISENHEIMER, NC—Pfeiffer's Caleb Brophy notched a match-high 20 kills while hitting .441, leading the Falcons to a 3-1 victory over visiting NJIT, Friday evening in men's volleyball non-conference action.
 
Pfeiffer, winners of five out of its last six contests, improves to 13-6 overall while the Highlanders fall to 4-18 overall. 
 
Brophy finished the match with a .441 hitting percentage combining for 20 kills, five errors on 34 attempts while Kyle Mariano hit .480 for the match with 13 kills on 25 swings and just one error.
 
Falcons setter David Specian piled up 46 assists and Brophy led Pfeiffer defensively with nine digs followed by Michah Bortner and Specian with seven apiece.
 
Pfeiffer held a huge team blocking advantage, 16-to-7 led by Eric Edelman with a match-high eight total blocks (two solo, six assists).
 
The Highlanders were paced by senior Herman Kantushov's 12 kills, while sophomore Kajetan Borecki added 10 kills.  Ryan Thomas combined for a .467 hitting percentage with seven kills on 15 attempts with no errors for the visitors.
 
Sophomore setter Zak Robben posted 36 assists and five digs in three sets and Matthew Lui added 11 assists in one set for the Highlanders.
 
Senior libero Brady Smith shared team-high honors with Borecki with nine digs.
 
In the first frame, Pfeiffer held an 10-6 lead early but the Highlanders rallied back pulling within one of the home team, 12-11 and later knotted the contest at 14 on a Falcon attack error.
 
The Falcons scored three consecutive points, taking a 17-14 advantage resulting in a Highlander timeout.  NJIT came within two, 20-18, after a kill by Borecki, but the Falcons responded with three straight points for a 23-18 lead.  Pfeiffer scored the final two points of the set for a 25-20 victory.
 
Pfeiffer began the second set up 7-3 until NJIT's Kantushov recorded three consecutive kills, helping the Highlanders grab an 11-10 lead.
 
NJIT would maintain ahead of the Falcons by at least two points until the Falcons scored three straight points to pull within one of the Highlanders, 23-22 on an NJIT attack error resulting in a timeout.  Out of the timeout, Pfeiffer knotted the set and went ahead by one resulting in another timeout by NJIT.  The Falcons scored the final point of the set for a 25-23 victory closing out the set on a 5-0 run.
 
In the third frame, the Falcons led 13-11, but soon found themselves down 16-13 after they made four attacking errors and NJIT's Raphael Anthony notched a kill.  
 
Pfeiffer crawled its way back in, scoring the next two points and later knotting the set at 20 on a kill by Brophy.  The set saw two more ties at 21 and at 22 as the Highlanders cruised to a 3-1 run for a 25-23 victory.
 
In the final set, the Highlanders held what looked like a comfortable 14-9 lead. Pfeiffer started to chip away at the deficit pulling within two, 14-12 and later knotting the frame at 16.
The frame saw one more tie at 18 and the Falcons pushed ahead, 21-18m  after a kill by Brophy.  NJIT closed the gap to within two, 23-21--the closest the Highlanders would get--on blocks by Kantushov and Thomas.  The Falcons scored the final two points of the set for a 25-21 victory.
 
NJIT wraps up its Spring Break trip and returns home for its final home match of the season at the Fleisher Athletic Center on Tuesday, March 26 at 7pm.  The Highlanders will host EIVA opponent Rutgers-Newark on Senior Night.