SANTA BARBARA, CA–The NJIT men's volleyball team dropped a 3-1 decision to No. 17 CSUN Friday night in their second match of the ASICS Invitational Friday night at Rob Gym on the campus of UC Santa Barbara.

CSUN (1-1) hit .325 for the match, picking up the four-set win, 20-25, 25-19, 25-20 and 25-23 to the Matadors first win of the season.  After playing its second top-17 ranked opponent to open the 2024 season, NJIT moved to 0-2 on the year (lost 3-1 to No. 15 UCSB).

For the second straight match, Will Migdal from Carlsbad, CA, led the Highlanders with nine kills on 20 attempts with just one error for a .400 hitting percentage.  Antonio Feliciano added seven kills followed by Alessandro Negri (6), Andrew Fedmasu (6) and Josh Gregg (5).

Senior setter Griffin Fieseler combined for 30 assists, six digs and two blocks.  Migdal and libero Ron Tidhar added five digs.  Fedmasu added three block assists.

The Matadors were led by Kyle Hobus and Jalen Phillips with 12 kills apiece.

CSUN opened the first frame scoring four of the first five points of the match but the Highlanders responded, going on a 5-1 run for a one-point lead, 6-5.  The score was tied twice in the set (8-8 and 12-12) and the Highlanders took a four-point lead, 19-15, and never looked back.  NJIT scored the final three points of the set, including a block solo to clinch the set by Griffin Fieseler.  The Highlanders combined for a .467 hitting percentage.

NJIT scored the first two points of the second set but CSUN used a 4-1 run to take its first lead of the set, 5-4.  Both teams traded points through the mid-teens and CSUN took control of the set behind a 6-3 run for a 19-14 advantage and evened the match at 1-1 with a 25-18 win.

CSUN set the tone in the third set, leading 9-4 and extending its lead to 14-9.  NJIT responded with a late 6-2 run in the set, which closed the CSUN gap to within one, 16-15.  The Matadors went up three and NJIT could only cut the deficit to two in the early 20's, 22-20, as CSUN scored the last four out of five points to pick up the 25-20 win and go up 2-1.

Both teams went back and forth until the early teens when CSUN scored six consecutive points to take a 20-14 lead.  NJIT down by as many as six, rallied back to within one, 23-22, behind a 4-1 run.  The Matadors combined for a pair of kills in the final points as CSUN went on to win 25-23 and secure the 3-1 victory.

NJIT wraps up the ASICS Invitational Saturday, taking on UC San Diego at 4:30pm(PT)/7:30pm(ET) at Rob Gym on the UC Santa Barbara campus.