Post Game Interview

Video Highlights 

NEWARK, NJ—Penn State, the best men's volleyball team in the East and ranked 11^th in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) national poll, came to NJIT and swept the Highlanders, 29-27, 25-13, and 25-20 Saturday afternoon in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.

Penn State (9-1 EIVA, 16-7 overall) was headed by redshirt sophomore opposite Aiden Albrecht, who led the Nittany Lions with 11 kills, while junior outside hitter Chris Nugent added 9 kills, followed by 8 apiece from redshirt junior Spencer Sauter and redshirt sophomore Kevin Gear.

The Nittany Lions redshirt senior setter Taylor Hammond piled up a match-best 36 assists.  Libero Royce Clemens led the match with 10 digs.

Penn State, which dominated the team blocking, 16.5-to-4.0, was paced by 6-foot-7 Gear with 8 total blocks (1 solo, 7 assists) followed by Nugent and Matt Seifert (6), Albrecht (4) and Hammond (3).

NJIT's win streak was halted at six Saturday, its longest since 2007, when the Highlanders won six in a row to open the season.

The Highlanders (7-4 EIVA, 8-14 overall) junior outside hitter Jabarry Goodridge paced the match with 14 kills, followed by 6 each from seniors TJ Jurko and Raphael Anthony.  Anthony, a 6-foot-5 middle, recorded a .444 attack percentage, on 9 swings with two errors for the home team.

Sophomore setter Cameron Tait produced 24 assistsm while freshman Ricardo Whitaker, who saw action in the second set, added 7 assists.

Defensively, libero Shannon Heckman led the way with 7 digs, followed by Tait and Jurko (5), and Goodridge and Brad Thele (3).  In front of the net, Goodridge, Thele and Anthony each combined for two blocks.

In the first frame, the closet of set of the match, there were 20 ties and 8 lead changes.  Down 21-23, the Highlanders scored three straight points, forcing a Nittany Lion timeout, after NJIT took a 24-23 advantage. Set point never came for the Highlanders and the there were four more ties, the final at 27, as the visitors scored the final two points on a kill by Nugent and block assists from Spencer, Gear and Albrecht to squeeze out a 29-27 victory in extra points.

Penn State led from start to finish in the second frame behind a .364 hitting percentage paced by Nugent and Albrecht with three kills apiece, cruising to a 25-13 victory, to go up two sets to none.

In the third and final set, the score remained close early through the mid-teens, but Penn State took control late and secured the victory on a 3-1 spurt to wrap up the match, 25-20.  NJIT's Goodridge and Penn State's Albrecht each had 6 kills in the frame.

After playing the last three matches at home, the Highlanders will take to the road and visit George Mason on April 7 at 7pm.  In the first meeting in Newark, the Patriots won an exciting five-set victory.