Box Score


NEWARK, NJ—NJIT pulled out a five-set men's volleyball thriller Saturday afternoon, edging Springfield, the top-ranked team in the latest weekly national Division III poll and winner of the 2012 and 2013 NCAA Division III national championship tournaments, 3-2, in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
                             
In NCAA men's volleyball, there are two championship Divisions—I and II combined as "I-II" and Division III, which has had its own official NCAA men's volleyball national championship since 2012. The authoritative national polls are conducted by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.
 
Saturday's scores were exceptionally close, with two of the five sets, including the fifth, requiring extra points to determine a set winner. Springfield took the first set, 27-25, before NJIT bounced back to win the next two sets by identical 25-21 scores. The visitors stayed alive with a 25-20 victory in the fourth set and NJIT pulled out the fifth set, 18-16.
 
With the non-conference win, NJIT is 9-16 on the season. With the defeat in its regular season finale, Springfield is 24-8. The Pride had won 12 straight matches before losing at NJIT. The eight-team NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament will be played April 25 to 27.
 
The NCAA bases its national championship offerings on the number of institutions that sponsor a given sport. Some sports do not have enough widespread sponsorship in any one NCAA Division to warrant multiple NCAA championships, such as in basketball, where there are annual national champions in Division I, Division II, and Division III. Before 2012, men's volleyball, lacking enough sponsorship in any one Division had teams from Division I, II, and III all competing for one championship.
 
With just one NCAA championship, top programs whose sports are otherwise aligned in Division III competed in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association along with schools whose programs were otherwise part of NCAA Division I and Division II.
 
Springfield, NYU, and Juniata, all from Division III, were part of the East's top conference (EIVA) that numbered national power Penn State among its members. NJIT, for its part, has been in the EIVA going back to the overall program's membership in Division III, Division II (1998-2007) and now in Division I.
 
When the NCAA added a men's volleyball championship for Division III, the three aforementioned top programs—Springfield, Juniata, and NYU—left the EIVA. Highly competitive when they were facing Division I foes in the EIVA, they have remained so in Division III, with Springfield ranked #1 and Juniata third in the latest national poll.
 
On Saturday, Springfield got a spectacular attacking effort from sophomore outside hitter Luis Vega, a high-flying 6-footer, who put down 32 kills, Freshman Sean Zuvich added 18 kills for the visitors.
 
Leading NJIT in the victory were juniors Kajetan Borecki, with 22 kills and just two errors in 48 swings (.417 attack percentage) and Ryan Thomas (15 kills, 2 errors, 22 attempts, .591) from the middle.
 
Borecki's 22 kills were a career-best for him and the 15 kills for Thomas were his second-best total in 2014, topped only by the 17 he notched at home vs. Rutgers-Newark on March 6. Borecki, a native of Poland, is in his second season at NJIT after playing his freshman year a Graceland in Iowa. Over the last three matches, he has 53 kills (at least 15 in each match) and just 11 hitting errors in the same span.
 
NJIT's assists leader was junior setter Zak Robben (49), while Springfield junior Keaton Pieper took match honors with 62 assists.
 
Springfield had the team edge in service aces, 8-5, topped by four from sophomore Eric Johnson. NJIT's five aces came from five different players.
 
On defense, Springfield had a bulging 57-35 advantage in digs and the Pride also led in total team blocks (10.5-to-7.0). Nick Ferry, Springfield's senior libero, collected 22 digs, tops in the match, while Zuvich added 12, coupling those with his 18 kills for an offense-defense double-double. He also had 5 block assists, second on Springfield to Sean Peterson's seven.
 
NJIT's libero, junior Oren Zyndorf, led the Highlanders with 14 digs and Thomas was the leader at the net with four block assists.
 
Vega and Zuvich combined to account for 96 of Springfield's 134 total attack attempts. NJIT, on the other hand, had five different players with at least 20 swings among its 158 attacks, making the Highlanders' offense  a bit more difficult to predict.
 
There were five ties in the opening set, the last at 25-25, before Springfield won on a three-man combination block by Zuvich, Vega and Peterson, and then a set point kill for Vega, who posted 7 kills in the opening set.
 
Vega had 8 kills in the second set, but they weren't enough, as NJIT rode a .444 attack percentage (1 error) in the frame to a 25-21 victory. A Borecki kill snapped a 4-4 tie and NJIT never trailed again in the set, as the Highlanders used a 7-1 spurt to take control, 11-5.
 
The teams traded points to begin the third set, but a Thomas kill put NJIT ahead 2-1 and the Highlanders led the rest of the set for another 25-21 win.
 
Springfield, which hadn't lost since February 22 against Concordia of Irvine, CA (#1 in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics men's poll), would not go easily, fighting back for  25-20 win in Set Four and then falling in a fifth set decided by two extra points after 12 ties and five lead changes to get to 16-16
 
The fourth set had plenty of back-and-forth of its own, with five ties and two lead changes. The last tie-break came when Zuvich and Peterson combined on a block that gave Springfield a 6-5 edge. The Pride eventually built a 6-point lead three times, the last at 15-9 on a kill for Jimmy O'Leary. NJIT hung in and closed to 18-19 on a Borecki kill but the Highlanders got no closer.
 
Fifth sets normally end when the winning side reaches 15 points, but a team must lead by at least two to win. There were early ties of 1-1, 2-2 and 3-3, before a combo block by Pieper and Peterson, followed by an ace for O'Leary gave Springfield a 5-3 lead. NJIT got back even at 7-7 and took one-point leads at 9-8 and 10-9, before the Pride surged back on top 11-10 and later, 13-11.
 
Kills by Raphael Anthony and Brad Thele of the Highlanders leveled the score at 13-13 before an NJIT service error put the home team on the brink, 13-14. An Anthony kill staved off execution for another point, but Vega's kill made it 15-14 for the Pride. However, Vega's subsequent service error and a ball-handling error on Pieper put the visitors in jeopardy, 15-16. Zuvich had a Springfield kill for the 12th tie of the set, before TJ Jurko's kill put the Highlanders ahead, 17-16. An ensuing Zuvichs attack error delivered set and match to the Highlanders on the next point.
 
NJIT will wrap up the season with two home matches next weekend. On Friday at 7 pm, the Highlanders host EIVA foe Saint Francis in the Fleisher Athletic Center.