Post Game Interview

NEWARK, NJ – NJIT men's volleyball dropped a 3-2 thriller to George Mason on Senior Day Friday night, 25-14, 16-25, 28-30, 25-23, 13-15.

The Highlanders celebrated seniors Shannon Heckman, Cameron Tait, Kevin Myren and Raymond Kowalski in a pre-game ceremony prior to the game.

Brian Negron posted the last two points of the match for the Patriots, getting two service aces for George Mason's final points in the final set that they won 15-13.

For the Highlanders (6-14, 3-7 EIVA) freshman Alvaro Gimeno led the team with 17 kills and two serving aces. Gimeno also added seven digs.

Ricardo Whitaker made 45 assists and the junior and Shannon Heckman tallied nine digs each.

Piotr Namiotko posted 14 kills and five blocks while Luca Berger made 10 kills and a game-high seven blocks.

George Mason who is undefeated in EIVA play, 9-0, got double-digit kills from Hayden Wagner (25), Kyle Barnes (14) and Christian Malias (13).

Negron accumulated a game high 52 kills and Barnes, Wagner and Johnny Gomez each tallied eight digs.

NJIT opened up the match with a dominating 25-14 win over the Patriots. All was tied at 8-8 before the Highlanders pulled away scoring eight unanswered points, four of those points coming off attach errors on George Mason.

The second set flipped in favor of the Patriots coming out with a 25-16 win. The Highlanders took an early 4-2 before George Mason tied things up at 4-4, and an additional four points and they would not relinquish their lead for the rest of the set.

The third, fourth and fifth sets were all won by only two points.

George Mason won the third set, in the longest set of the match 30-28 to take a 2-1 lead. With the score tied 28-28 after a huge block by Namiotko and Berger, the Patriots took the last two points on an attack error and a kill by Wagner to win the set.

With sixteen tie scores, the Highlanders evened things up at two winning the fourth set 25-23 on a service error.

The final set again came down to the wire, with 11 tie scores and three lead changes and the Patriots getting two serving aces from Negron for the 15-13 win.

The Highlanders host non-conference opponent Milwaukee School of Engineering on April 4 for a 7:30pm match at the Wellness and Events Center.