Box Score

FAIRFIELD, CT—Sacred Heart opened a 2-0 lead in sets in two close opening frames only to see NJIT rally to take the next two sets and force a fifth and deciding set. But the Pioneers dominated the fifth set, 15-6, for a 3-2 victory over the Highlanders Saturday night in Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association action in the Pitt Center on the Sacred Heart campus.
 
The 25-21, 28-26, 23-25, 23-25, 15-6 victory lifted the Pioneers to 4-5 overall and 1-1 in the EIVA. NJIT is 4-2 after dropping its first 2014 EIVA match.
 
Given the marathon five-set match with close set scores, players from both teams posted impressive individual numbers.
 
Sophomore Austin Alcala notched a team-best 22 kills for the winners, who had four players with double-figure kills totals. He also shared match honors in digs, with 16, giving him an offense-defense double-double.
 
Senior Brad Borsay was second on the Pioneers with 18 kills and he made just four errors in 38 swings for .368 attack percentage. Senior Jason Kinney and junior Raymond Satagaj each posted 10 kills for SHU, with Kinney getting his on just 15 attempts without an error (.667) and Satagaj just a bit less efficient (10 kills, 3 errors, 16 attempts, .438 attack percentage).
 
Pioneer sophomore  RJ Uhlir set a match-best 58 assists. The Pioneers dominated the serving game, with a 10-2 lead in aces, as NJIT played without its best server, redshirt sophomore TJ Jurko, who is out with an injury. Kinney led the home team in that category with five aces.
 
On defense, Alcala's 16 digs for Sacred Heart were backed by 14 digs for sophomore  libero AJ Logosh. Kinney led the Pioneer defense at the net with four blocks (1 solo, 3 assists) and Satagaj added three block assists.
 
NJIT lost despite getting a match-best 24 kills for outstanding freshman Jabarry Goodridge. Kajetan Borecki finished with 11 kills and Chris Kaepernick and Ryan Thomas each checked in with nine kills. Jurko's absence was also felt in the attack, where he ranks second on the team with 2.73 kills per set.
 
Zak Robben finished with 49 assists and Borecki accounted for the only two service aces on the night for NJIT. The two aces were a season low for NJIT, which has had as many as 12 aces in a match this season.
 
The Highlanders, who won the team blocking battle 10.5-to-8, got a match-high five blocks (1 solo, 4 assists) from the junior middle Thomas. Robben, the setter, added a block solo and three block assists.
 
Sacred Heart gained the upper hand by claiming the first two sets, 25-21 and 28-26. The opening set featured 10 ties and three lead changes, while the second set was knotted 13 times and had two lead changes.
 
On the brink of elimination in the best 3-of-5 contest, NJIT stayed alive and then drew even with a pair of 25-23 wins in the third and fourth sets. The third set had eight ties and five lead changes. SHU then broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth set as part of a 3-0 run that made the score 4-1 and the Pioneers were not challenged after that, winning the last five points to secure the match.
 
Neither side led the opening set by more than a point until it was 10-8, Sacred Heart, and even then, the biggest lead was three and the score was tied, 20-20, when Will LeClerc notched a kill to spark a 3-0 SHU run. NJIT got back to 21-23, but Satagaj and Alcala clinched the set with back-to-back kills.
 
The second set was a heart-breaker for the Highlanders, who got kills from Thomas and Borecki to go up 24-22. But set point never came for NJIT, as there would be ties at 24, 25, and 26, before the home team claimed a 28-26 win on kills by LeClerc and Alcala.
 
Sacred Heart came close to a sweep, going up 17-12 and staying ahead all the way until a Thomas block solo gave NJIT a 22-21 lead. That block was part of an 8-2 NJIT run that put the Highlanders back on the brink of a set win. Up 24-22, the Highlanders conceded a point on a service error, but this time they got the clincher when SHU had an error of its own on the ensuing serve.
 
The fourth set was a testament to NJIT's grit, as the Highlanders went behind 12-21 and 14-22, but outscored Sacred Heart down the stretch, 13-2, including the last six points to rally for a 25-23 win and earn a fifth set.
 
NJIT now faces what, on paper, is the most challenging weekend on its EIVA schedule. The Highlanders will make the annual long bus trip to central Pennsylvania next weekend, visiting national power and perennial EIVA champion Penn State on Friday at 7 pm and then taking on Saint Francis U in Loretto, PA, the following evening. Penn State has won the last 15 consecutive EIVA titles and was NCAA National Champion in 1994 and 2008.