LORETTO, PA--The NJIT men's volleyball team moved back into the win column with a 3-1 road victory at Saint Francis U for the Highlanders first EIVA win of the season paced by junior outside Alvaro Gimeno 13 kills and eight digs Friday evening at DeGol Arena.
NJIT defeated Saint Francis U 25-18, 24-26, 25-19 and 25-16, improving to 6-3 on the season, 1-1 in league action while the Red Flash move to 3-7 overall, 0-1 in the EIVA.
In addition to Gimeno's 12 kills, freshman Julian Meissner combined for a team-best 13 kills while Jens Feldthus added nine for the Highlanders. Senior middle blocker Luca Berger combined for a .500 clip, registered six kills on 10 attempts with just one error followed by freshman Martin de Chavarria with a team-high .875 hitting percentage with seven kills on eight attempts and no errors.
NJIT setter Roque Nido and Zachary Hresko split time at the setting position, piling up 22 and 14 assists respectively for the visitors. Gimeno and Feldthus each posted eight digs followed by Nido (6).
In front of the net, Berger led the Highlanders with six total blocks (one solo, five assists) while de Chavarria and Meissner combined for three block assists apiece.
The visitors held a slight edge in the service ace category led by Gimeno and Meissner with three aces each.
SFU was led by Michael Fisher's match-best 16 kills while Roman Szwabinsky recorded 28 assists and three digs.
NJIT opened the first frame on a 10-5 run and extended its lead to eight, 15-7. SFU rallied back to pull within four of the Highlanders, 18-14, but the Highlanders used a 7-4 spurt to close out the frame with a 25-18 victory.
Once again, the set began with back and forth action. No team held a lead more than two points until the score was 7-4 in favor of the home team. Down 16-11, NJIT put together a run to cut into SFU's lead, 17-16, behind a 5-1 run capped by back-to-back aces by Meissner.
The set saw three one-point deficits in a row for the Highlanders before they were able to tie it at 20. NJIT took its first lead of the set at 22-21 and ahead 24-21, after four straight points. SFU answered with five consecutive points to close out the frame with a 26-24 victory.
The third frame was played tight and saw an early tie at 13-all as the Highlanders took a two-point lead, 17-15, which capped a 9-4 spurt to pull away to win by six, 25-19.
NJIT looked to close SFU out in the fourth, jumping out to a 5-2 lead. The Highlanders continued to extend its lead and SFU saw its deficit reach 11-5. After taking a 22-15 advantage, NJIT scored three of the final four points to win by nine, 25-16.
NJIT will have a quick turnaround with the Highlanders visiting No. 10 Penn State (5-6, 0-1 EIVA) on Saturday at 7pm in University Park.
