NJIT Men's Volleyball Matchday Center
 

The Teams	#3 BYU (8-2; 6-2 MPSF as of 2/11) at NJIT (0-7; 0-0 EIVA)
Date/Time	Saturday, February 13, 2016/ 7:30 pm
Location/Venue	Newark, NJ/ Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center (1,500)
Live Coverage	ESPN3 streaming telecast (WatchESPN app; www.watchespn.com)  Ira Thor and Michael Ventola announcing
Live Stats	In-game statistics (free)
Tickets	Sold at the door only; $8 general admission; $5 NJIT faculty/staff;  NJIT students with ID and children under 12, free.
Social Media	@njithighlanders
All-Time Series	First meeting

 
The game will be shown live on ESPN3.
 
A simple way to find ESPN3 is on NJIT's official athletics website, www.njithighlanders.com. Near the middle of the home page NJIT TV section, click Upcoming Events for a list of scheduled NJIT contests. After finding the event, click the camera icon to the right of the event listing. That brings you to an ESPN3 portal where you can access the desired program.

For more details on how to watch NJIT on ESPN3, go to the section at the bottom of this page.
 
Ira Thor and Michael Ventola will describe the action
 
Highlanders Host One of the NCAA's Best, BYU
NJIT's second-year head coach Danny Goncalves structured his early-season schedule to put his team up against the best opposition possible. And he'll get exactly that when his Highlanders host perennial national contender BYU on Saturday at 7:30 pm.
 
BYU, which has won three national championships in men's volleyball, is ranked third in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association national poll.
 
The Cougars' home conference is the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), widely regarded as the best league in men's college volleyball. The MPSF is so strong that until a few years ago, when the NCAA Division I-II Men's Volleyball championship consisted of four teams, two of the four invariably came from the MPSF.
 
Since the national championship began in 1970, only six national champions have come from a league other than the MPSF. Last season, when Loyola Chicago and Lewis contested the national championship match, it was the first time the championship match didn't have an MPSF team.
 
Loyola and Lewis both play in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, while NJIT is a member of the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA). Both of those leagues get automatic berths in the national championship tournament (now six teams) and Penn State is the only EIVA team ever to win the championship.
 
Tough Schedule
The Highlanders are off to an 0-7 start. They began with three losses in California to MPSF opponents, including #9 UC Santa Barbara.
 
After that, the Highlanders lost a pair to Ball State and IPFW of the MIVA. Last weekend NJIT lost two in Phoenix to Grand Canyon of the MIVA.
 
Common Foes
BYU took two 3-0 victories against UC Santa Barbara, which beat NJIT, 3-0. The Cougars also took a 3-1 decision vs. George Mason, which plays in the EIVA. The Highlanders haven't played the Patriots yet this season, but they will play twice later on the schedule.
 
Rare East Coast Visit by BYU
The Cougars, from Provo, UT, played at Princeton Friday night and are making their first trek to the Eastern Time Zone since 2008. BYU has never played vs. NJIT.
 
A Look at #3 BYU
Shawn Olmstead, a former BYU player, was named head coach in 2015 after serving from 2011-14 as the head coach of BYU's women's team. In that span, he amassed 100 wins, including a 30-5 record in 2014, as the Cougar women reached the national championship match. He was lauded as National Division I Coach of the Year in 2014 and coached four All-Americans in his brief tenure as women's head coach.
 
Every player on the Cougar roster stands at least 6-feet tall and 10 BYU players are 6-foot-7 or taller.
 
The kills leader is 6-9 sophomore Ben Patch (142 kills), while setter Leo Durkin has 363 assists. Libero Evan Chang has a team-best 74 digs to lead the floor defense, while 6-9 Price Jarman and 6-8 Michael Hatch each have 46 blocks to lead the team in that department.
 
A Look at NJIT
Jabarry Goodridge is off to a great start with a team-best 75 kills, despite playing in only four matches due to a concussion suffered earlier. Named to the Karch Kiraly Award Watch List for the nation's best outside attacker, Goodridge can only enhance his national reputation with a strong showing against BYU.
 
Redshirt senior TJ Jurko combines with Goodridge to give NJIT a strong 1-2 punch in the attack. He has 71 kills and has played in all seven matches.
 
Cameron Tait and Ricardo Whitaker have shared the setting duties for the Highlanders, with Tait's 127 assists leading the team.
 
On defense, Chris Wise has a team-best 37 digs, while Kevin Myren (22 blocks) and Luke Robbe (18) lead at the net.
 
How to watch NJIT sports programming on ESPN3 
ESPN3 is ESPN's live multi-screen sports network.  It is accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. 
 
The network is currently available to more than 99 million homes at no additional cost to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection or video subscription from an affiliated service provider. 
 
ESPN3 is also available at no cost to approximately 21 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers, smartphones and tablets connected to on-campus educational and on-base military broadband and Wi-Fi networks. That means devices served by NJIT's on-campus computer network can link directly to ESPN3.
 
Others can access ESPN3 through WatchESPN if they receive ESPN programming from an affiliated service provider. Those users need to provide the username and password they use in online communication with their regular service provider (can usually be found on regular billing material from the service provider).
 
Here is a link to Frequently Asked Questions about WatchESPN.