VIDEO: NJIT Highlights
VIDEO: Post Game Wrap Up w/ ESPN+ Ira Thor and NJIT head coach Danny Goncalves
NEWARK, NJ–The NJIT men's volleyball team battled against No. 2 Long Beach State, coming up short, 3-1, in men's volleyball non-conference action inside the Joel and Diane Bloom Wellness and Events Center.
Long Beach State, ranked No. 2 in the latest AVCA Division I-II coaches poll, won their fifth straight match, improving to 5-0 on the young season. NJIT had a three-match win streak snapped, moving to 3-4 on the year.
The first frame, which went for extra points, saw 17 ties and six lead changes, with Long Beach State coming out on top, 31-29. NJIT answered in the second set, evening the match at 1-1 with a 25-23 victory behind a .360 hitting percentage. Visiting Long Beach State cruised to a 25-16 win in the third set and held off a late run by the Highlanders in the fourth set with a 25-22 victory to secure the 3-1 win.
Junior Alessandro Negri led NJIT with 18 kills followed by Antonio Feliciano with 13 kills. Middle blockers Carson Williams and Andrew Fedmasu each added nine and eight kills respectively. Fedmasu finished the match with an impressive .636 hitting percentage and three block assists. Williams paced the home team with four total blocks.
Senior setter Griffin Fieseler piled up 43 assists to go along with three kills, three aces and three block assists. Libero Ron Tidhar registered a match-high 12 digs followed by Will Migdal with eight.
NJIT started off the first frame on an 8-4 spurt resulting in a Long Beach State timeout and later extended its leads to five, 10-5, on a block assist by Griffin Fieseler and Andrew Fedmasu. NJIT took a six-point lead, 14-8, on three straight points by the Highlanders but the Beach used a 7-1 run to take its first lead of the match, 16-15. The set saw 14 more ties (17 total for the set) the final at 29-all with Beach scoring the final two points of the set for a 31-29 victory.
The Highlanders again jumped out to an early lead, 7-4, on a kill by Griffin Fieseler and kept a four-point lead, 15-11, after a challenge call by NJIT head coach Danny Goncalves on a touch call. The Beach used a 4-1 run to close the Highlander gap to within one, 18-17. NJIT responded and increased its lead to as many as three, 23-20, resulting in a Long Beach State timeout. The Beach inched its way back to within one, 24-23, but Carson Williams posted a kill to even the match at 1-1 with a 25-23 win.
An early 3-1 to start the third behind back-to-back kills by the Highlanders, Long Beach State took control of the set in the early teens after four straight points for a 14-9 lead. NJIT went on a short 4-1 run to close the Beach gap to within two, 15-13, capped by a kill from Will Migdal. The Beach used a 9-3 run to take a 25-16 win to go up 2-1.
The Beach used an 11-3 run early in the frame to take a 14-7 lead. Through the mid-teens NJIT fought back and closed the Beach gap to within three, 16-13, resulting in a Long Beach State timeout, capped by a kill from Carson Williams. Three straight points for NJIT to start the 20's, the home team pulled within three, 23-20, on a kill by Fedmasu.
Long Beach State was led by a match-best 21 kills by Clarke Godbold, Sotiris Siapanis (12k) and Skyler Varga (10k). Aidan Knipe posted a match-high 44 assists to go along with seven digs and four block assists.
In front of the net, Lazar Bouchkov notched a match-best 11 block assists as Long Beach State held a 17.5-to-7.5 team blocking advantage. Varga added nine block assists.
NJIT will hit the road and play its next two matches on the road at Saint Francis U on January 26 at 7pm and the next day against University of Charlotte at 1pm.
