VIDEO: Post Game Interview with head coach Danny Goncales and Jens Feldthus
VIDEO: NJIT Highlights vs. George Mason
Photo Gallery
NEWARK, NJ–The NJIT men's volleyball team recorded its fifth straight win of the season with a 3-0 straight set victory over visiting George Mason in the EIVA Conference opener for NJIT Friday evening inside NJIT's Wellness and Events Center.
NJIT, winners of the last five, which started with a 3-0 home victory over Purdue Fort Wayne, followed up by knocking off then-ranked No. 12 UC San Diego and a weekend sweep of LIU, improved to 5-2 on the season and 1-0 in the league. The Highlanders are perfect at home at 4-0. George Mason drops to 3-5 on the young season and 0-3 in the conference.
The Highlanders, which hit an impressive .425 for the match, swept the Patriots, 25-20, 25-23 and 25-17.
Senior Jens Feldthus led the match with 13 kills followed by freshman Alessandro Negri with 12. Julian Meissner and Martin de Chavarria each notched eight kills on the night.
Feldthus finished with a .455 hitting percentage while middle Chavarria hit an impressive .667 on 12 attempts and no errors.
Setter Roque Nido combined for 42 assists while defensively, Feldthus and Negri each combined for six digs.
In front of the net, Chavarria combined for seven total blocks, pacing the Highlanders to an 11-to-5 team blocking advantage. Roque and Feldthus each recorded four total blocks in the win.
NJIT held a 7-to-2 advantage in the service ace category led by a pair of aces from Negri and Feldthus.
George Mason's Jack Bolz and Omar Hoyos each posted 10 kills and Zach Talamoa and Troy McDonald piled up 16 and 11 assists respectively.
NJIT got things going early in the first set, getting out to an 8-3 spurt, resulting in a George Mason timeout. Leading 16-12, the Patriots scored four consecutive points, pulling within three of the Highlanders, 13-10. NJIT used a run of their own, scoring six straight points for an 18-12 lead after a kill by Feldthus. George Mason rallied to get as close as two, 24-20, but NJIT's Feldthus put down his fourth kill of the match as the Highlanders recorded a 25-20 victory to go up 1-0.
George Mason used a late run in the second set, 6-0, in the late teens to take its first lead of the set, 19-16. NJIT responded with a short 4-0 run, to regain the lead, 20-19, on an ace by Negri and the Highlanders scored the final two out of three points to take a 2-0 lead with a 25-23 victory.
The third started off close until 8-8 when NJIT rallied off five straight points for a 13-8 lead. The Patriots cut the deficit to three, 13-10, but the Highlanders answered with a 6-4 spurt for a 19-14 capped by a kill from Julian Meissner. Feldthus put the match away with a kill to secure the 3-0 sweep with a 25-17 win.
NJIT will return to action on Saturday at 2pm, hosting Princeton in EIVA Conference action.
