Post Game Interview
NEWARK, NJ—IPFW lost two of its first three sets against NJIT Saturday night in the Fleisher Athletic Center, but the visiting Mastodons rallied to pull out a victory, staying alive with a 25-23 win in the fourth set and then clinching the match victory, 15-11, in the fifth set.
The Mastodons took the first set 25-19, but NJIT took the next two, 25-18 and 25-17. IPFW drew even in the fourth set and then won the fifth by hitting .615 (9 kills, 1 error, 13 attempts), while the Highlanders had their worst hitting frame of the night (.091, 4 kills, 3 errors, 11 attempts).
Sophomore Tony Price, a product of IPFW's hometown, Fort Wayne, IN, led the visitors with 20 kills and redshirt senior Andrew Sellan, an honorable mention All-America in 2014, added 13 kills for the visitors, who are 4-4 after finishing a strong weekend that began Friday with a 3-0 win in Virginia at George Mason, which, like NJIT competes as a member of the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association.
NJIT is 0-5 after opening its schedule against five strong out-of-league opponents. The Highlanders opened with three losses in California in a tournament hosted by #6 UC Santa Barbara and they lost both matches this weekend against teams from the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, falling 3-0 vs. Ball State on Friday night before the loss to IPFW.
Three Highlanders had strong attacking nights, led by 20 kills for junior
Jabarry Goodridge. Redshirt sophomore
Raymond Kowalski had 12 kills with just two errors in 24 swings (.417 hitting percentage) and redshirt junior
Brad Thele added 7 kills, with two errors and 16 attempts (.312).
Freshman setter Michael Keegan, the high school Player of the Year in the San Diego area a year ago, piled up 41 assists for the winners, who served 10 aces, with Price, Sellan, and Austin Neace all notching two aces.
NJIT's
Ricardo Whitaker, a freshman from Sao Paulo, Brazil, dished 39 assists and the Highlanders served 7 aces topped by two each for Kowalski and Thele.
On defense, senior libero Luis Bertran, an all-MIVA honoree last season, had a match-best 10 digs for the Mastodons, while senior David Frazee was tops at the net with 4 block assists,
The digs leader for the Highlanders was redshirt freshman
Shannon Heckman (9) and redshirt junior
Luke Robbe had 6 blocks (1 solo, 5 assists), supported by 5 block assists from Whitaker.
The opening set was close early, but IPFW, leading 12-11, used a 6-1 spurt to go up 18-12 and eased to a 25-19 win.
The Highlanders bounced back with a strong hitting set, taking the second frame 25-18, powered by a .462 team hitting percentage (12 kills, 0 errors, 26 attempt). Goodridge led the attack with 7 kills in 11 hits.
NJIT outhit the visitors again in the third frame, taking that one 25-17, as three different Highlanders registered three kills, set up by the freshman, Whitaker, who had 9 assists on the team's 10 kills.
Facing extinction, the Mastodons were down 16-20 in the fourth frame before a 4-0 run capped by a Price skill that leveled the score at 20-20. The teams then traded points with ties at 21-21, 22-22, and 23-23, before a Frazee kill put IPFW up a point and then he and Neace combined to block Goodridge for set point.
Slow starts in the fifth set are usually fatal, since it takes just 15 points to win, compared to 25 in the preceding frames.
The Mastodons won the first three points and led 7-3 before a 4-2 Highlander spurt drew the home team within two points at 6-8. The Highlanders eventually cut the deficit to 10-11 on a kill by Kowalski, but they got no closer after a 3-0 IPFW response, with Sellan delivering match point on a kill assisted by Keegan.
Having shown progress, but still looking for their first victory of the season, the Highlanders will travel to Arizona next weekend for matches Friday and Saturday in Phoenix at Grand Canyon University.
