NEWARK, NJ–The NJIT men's volleyball team faced No. 9 Grand Canyon for the second time this weekend with the Lopes taking a 3-1 victory over the Highlanders Saturday evening in non-conference men's volleyball action inside the Joel and Diane Bloom Wellness and Events Center.

NJIT (0-2) picked up a 25-20 victory in the first set to go up 1-0 but the Lopes rallied back and won the next three — 25-19, 25-17 and 25-19 to secure the 3-1 victory and the 2-0 season-opening sweep at NJIT.

Leading the way for the Highlanders was Alessandro Negri with 12 kills followed by Antonio Feliciano (9), Braeden Goebbert (8) and Andrew Fedmasu and Wiktor Nowak (5).  

Goebbert finished the match with an impressive .800 hitting percentage on eight kills, 10 swings with no errors.  Fedmasu wrapped up the game with a .556 hitting percentage with five kills on nine swings with no errors.

Freshman setter Bruno Figueiredo registered 38 assists and Negri led the match with nine digs.

The first set saw NJIT jump out to a 4-1 lead but Grand Canyon closed the gap and went ahead 15-14.  The Highlanders responded and scored four in a row to increase its lead to 19-14 and later 22-16.  The Lopes down but not out caught fire and scored four points of their own to close the Highlanders gap to within two, 22-20.  NJIT would score the final three points of the frame for a 25-20 victory, capped by a triple block from Wiktor, Negri and Goebbert.

Grand Canyon scored the opening five points of the second frame but the Highlanders scored four consecutive points to pull within one, 5-4.  Both teams went back and forth with neither team leading by more than one point until Grand Canyon went on a 6-2 run to push its lead to six, 18-12 and scored the final two out of three points to tie the match at 1-1 with a 25-19 win.

The Lopes continued its momentum into the third set taking a 12-6 advantage and later increased its lead to 21-14.  The Lopes used a 4-2 run to close out the frame with a 25-17 victory.  

Both teams went back and forth in the final frame with neither team leading by one until Grand Canyon used an 8-1 run after an 18-18 tie to register the 25-19 win and go on to take the match 3-1.  The Lopes finished with an impressive .762 hitting percentage (17k, 1e, 21a).

Grand Canyon's Trent Moser led the match with 19 kills while Karter Rodgers tallied 11 kills.  Moser combined for a .586 hitting percentage in the win.

NJIT, in a stretch of five matches at home, will return to action on Friday, January 17 at 2pm when the Highlanders host Roberts Wesleyan inside the Joel and Diane Bloom Wellness and Events Center.