Post Game Interview

NEWARK, NJ—Ball State came to town and swept NJIT 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-15) Friday night in the opening home match of the 2016 men's volleyball season in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
Ball State, which is from Muncie, Indiana, and plays in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Collegiate Volleyball Association, raised its season record to 4-3. The Cardinals had lost two road matches last weekend in Pennsylvania, dropping a 3-0 decision to #10 Penn State and then 3-2 the next day at Saint Francis in Loretto, PA.
 
Penn State, Saint Francis and NJIT all belong to the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, which has been dominated on a near-annual basis by Penn State for the last two decades.
 
NJIT is 0-4 to start 2016. The Highlanders dropped three matches in California between January 8 and 9 in a tournament hosted by #6 UC Santa Barbara.
 
They were supposed to play at home on January 22, but that match was wiped out by Winter Storm Jonas, meaning NJIT went 20 days between contests before finally getting on the court Friday night.
 
NJIT junior Jabarry Goodridge stood out against Ball State, notching more than half of his team's kills (17 of 33) and more than double any other player in the match (Marcin Niemczewski's 7 kills led the visitors and TJ Jurko had 8 kills for the Highlanders).
 
Goodridge had a strong .414 hitting percentage, as well, with 17 kills and just 5 errors in 29 swings.
 
NJIT was hurt by errors, with 22 hitting errors being the most egregious of the negative stats. In volleyball statistics each error represents a point given to the other team when your team controls the ball. On this night, 46 of Ball State's 75 points scored directly on Highlander errors. By comparison, NJIT scored 25 points from Cardinal errors.
 
The assists leader for the Highlanders was sophomore setter Cameron Tait, with 21, and Goodridge had the team's only service ace.
 
Tait also led the floor defense, coming up with 6 digs, and Goodridge and redshirt freshman Kevin Myren each posted 4 blocks assists, as enjoyed a 6.5-to-3.0 lead in total team blocks.
 
Ball State's 6-foot-6 senior setter Hiago Garchet finished with 23 assists and Niemczewski and Edgardo Cartagenia each had a pair of service aces.
 
Niemczewski's 6 digs were tops for the Cardinals and Alex Pia had two block assists.
 
In the first set, Ball State used a 9-3 spurt to break free of a 10-10 tie and was in control for the rest of the frame, finishing with a 25-20 win. Four of the nine points in the decisive spurt were scored thanks to NJIT errors.
 
NJIT began the second set 8-4, but after a Ball State timeout, the visitors surged into the lead, 14-12, with an 10-2 rally that included eight errors by the Highlanders, five on attacks hit out of bounds.
 
Goodridge generated kills on three of NJIT's next five points and the Highlanders claimed a 17-15 lead and were on top as late as 21-20. But Ball State answered with a 4-0 that included points on three Highlanders errors. Down 21-24, NJIT got a point back, but Mike Scannell's clinched the set for the visitors, 25-22.
 
The Highlanders again led early in the third set, but Scannell's kill put the Cardinals in a 9-8 lead they would never relinquish, as Ball State ran off 6-1 spurt that began with the tie-breaking kill.
 
After that, Ball State pulled away and clinched the match with a comfortable 25-15 third-set victory.
 
The Highlanders will be back in action quickly, hosting IPFW on Saturday at 7 pm in the Fleisher Athletic Center.