Game 5	NJIT (2-2, 17-10 in 2022) vs. No. 11 Loyola Chicago (3-0, 18-9 in 2022)
Date | Time	Friday, January 20, 2023 | 7pm
Location | Arena	Newark, NJ | Wellness and Events Center
Live Video	ESPN+ ($$)
Live Stats	In-game stats (free)

 

Game 6	NJIT (2-2, 17-10 in 2022) vs.St. Francis BK (3-1, 10-15 in 2022)
Date | Time	Saturday, January 21, 2023 | 2pm
Location | Arena	Newark, NJ | Wellness and Events Center
Live Video	AETV (free)
Live Stats	In-game stats (free)

NEWARK, NJ–Coming off its first win at home last Saturday, the NJIT men's volleyball team will host a pair of matches at home this weekend, welcoming #11 Loyola Chicago on Friday and St. Francis Brooklyn on Saturday.

Game Information
Friday vs. Loyola Chicago: First serve is slated for 7pm inside NJIT's Wellness and Events Center.  The match will be streamed live on ESPN+ and in-game statistics are available for free on NJITHighlanders.com.

Saturday vs. St. Francis Brooklyn: First serve is slated for 2pm inside NJIT's Wellness and Events Center.  The match will be streamed live on AETV and in-game statistics are available for free on NJITHighlanders.com.

All-Time Series
Friday vs. Loyola Chicago: NJIT will look for its first all-time win against the Ramblers.  Loyola Chicago enters with a 9-0 all-time series record.  The last time the two schools met was on January 15, 2022 in Chicago.  The Ramblers picked up a 3-1 win.

Saturday vs. St. Francis Brooklyn: NJIT leads the all-time series vs. the Terries, 3-0.  The Highlanders are 2-0 at home and 1-0 on the road vs. St. Francis BK.

Challenging Non-Conference Schedule
NJIT will face five top-15 teams this season, including two teams which play in the EIVA Conference.
No. 11 Loyola-Chicago (Jan. 20)
No. 5 Pepperdine (Jan. 27)
No. 3 Long Beach State (Feb. 17-18)
No. 4 Penn State (Feb. 24-25)
RV Princeton (Mar. 11/Apr. 14)

#ProtectTheWEC
NJIT is 1-0 at home this season.  The Highlanders swept visiting Sacred Heart on Saturday, January 14.

2022 Recap
The Highlanders finished the 2022 season with a 17-11 overall mark and made an appearance in the 2022 EIVA finals for the third time in program history.  The 17 wins was the second most wins since the 2007 season.

EIVA Preseason Poll
NJIT was picked to finish second in the 2023 EIVA Preseason Coaches Poll.  The Highlanders picked up one first-place vote and were second in the ballot behind conference favorite Penn State.

Highlander Lineup
NJIT returns its starting lineup from a season ago with the expectation of the libero position.  The two top hitters for NJIT a season ago are: Julian Meissner (3.62kps; .272 H%) and Alessandro Negri (2.89kps; .274 H%).

2023 Captains
The Highlanders will be led by graduate student Jens Feldthus and seniors Martin de Chavarria and Julian Meissner.

Meissner was selected to the EIVA All-Tournament team, All-EIVA first-team and selected to the EIVA All-Academic team.  De Chavarria earned EIVA All-Tournament honors, All-EIVA second-team and All-Academic honors.  Feldthus was named to the EIVA second-team and All-Academic team.

Freshman All-American in 2022
Outside hitter Negri was named Freshman All-American by OffTheBlock and was selected to the EIVA first-team after joining the Highlanders in January 2022 from Reggio Emilia, Italy.

All-Academic Honors
In 2022, NJIT earned United Marine Corps (USMC) and American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) with one of its annual Team Academic Awards for the 2021-22 academic year.

NJIT boosted a 3.581 cumulative GPA, which included two student-athletes -- Josh Gregg and Joe Kennedy posting a 4.0 GPA, 15 student-athletes named to the Dean's List and 11 above a 3.5 GPA or higher this spring.

Eleven players were recognized to the 2022 EIVA All-Academic team.

New Kids on the Block
Three standouts joined the Highlanders in the 2022-23 season: transfer Will Migdal and true freshmen Braeden Goebbert and Andrew Fedmasu both who hail from Illinois. 

Scouting Loyola Chicago
Eleventh-ranked Loyola enters Friday's match with a 3-0 record.  The Ramblers will play on the road for the first time this season after sweeping Missouri S&T, King and UC San Diego to open up the season.

Parker Van Buren was named the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) Offensive Player of the Week, announced Tuesday by the league office. It's the sixth weekly accolade of Van Buren's career and first this season.

Van Buren, an outside hitter from Cross Plains, Wis., led the Ramblers to a 3-0 start with wins over Missouri S&T, King and UC San Diego last week. The redshirt sophomore averaged over five points per set, including 3.86 kills and 1.29 aces, while producing an impressive .431 overall hitting percentage.

The Ramblers were picked to finish second in the MIVA Preseason Poll and Cole Schlothauer and Parker Van Buren were named to the Preseason All-MIVA team.

During his breakthrough redshirt freshman campaign at Loyola in 2022, Van Buren finished the season ranked fourth in NCAA Division I-II play with 4.37 kills per set and earned American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Honorable Mention All-America honors, while also collecting First Team All-MIVA and MIVA Newcomer of the Year recognition.

Schlothauer has earned AVCA Honorable Mention All-America honors and First Team All-MIVA recognition during each of the past three seasons.

Scouting St. Francis BK
St. Francis Brooklyn will visit NJIT on Saturday at 2pm, entering with a 3-1 overall record.  

The Terries opened the season 3-0 at the JBJ Battle for the Boardwalk, picking up wins over Belmont Abbey, Eastern Nazarene and American International.  The lone loss of the season comes at the hands of No.2-ranked Division III Springfield College (0-3) on January 11.

Senior Bartek Zielinski was recently named First Points/NEC Prime Performer of the Week and leads the Northeast Conference with a .667 hitting percentage for the season.

The Terriers were selected to finish second in the inaugural Northeast Conference preseason coaches poll.  St. Francis BK received one first-place vote.

St Francis, under new head coach Justin Beaumont, returns the team's dig leader Nicola Iannelli; who received All-Conference second team honors from the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) in 2022. Beaumont also returns two of the Terriers' kill leaders in Andrea Lancianese and Jack Hershman. 

Next Up
The Highlanders will wrap up a two-match home skid on Saturday at 2pm, welcoming St. Francis BK and then play its next two on the road (at George Mason - Jan. 26) and (vs. #5 Pepperdine at George Mason - Jan. 27).