New Jersey City University Athletics

BOX SCORE

BROOKLYN, NY…Senior outside hitter KEVIN RODGERS (Clifton, NJ/Clifton) slammed 14 kills and hit .440 overall as New Jersey City University improved to 22-0 all-time against Polytechnic University, sweeping the Blue Jays, 30-20, 30-24, 30-16 in a North East Collegiate Volleyball Association Metro Division match on Wednesday night.

NJCU, which has swept Poly in 20 of 22 all-time meetings, improves to 9-3 on the season and remains unbeaten in the NECVA Metro at 3-0. Polytechnic falls to 1-10 overall and 0-6 Metro. Eight of NJCU's nine wins this year have been sweeps.

Rodgers, who had a line of 14-3-25, now has 1,068 career kills and is just behind Jason Payman (1995-97; 1,075 kills) and Christopher Feliciano (1999-00, 02-03; 1,082 kills) on the all-time 1,000-kill club in the 20-year history of the program. He will likely move past both players into third place in school history over the weekend.

Sophomore outside hitter MARLEY PENA-GUZMAN (Atlanta, GA/Central Gwinnett (GA)) provided 10 kills (10-4-24).

Sophomore setter JORGE RODRIGUEZ (Havana, Cuba/Memorial) delivered 35 assists and added six digs and two aces. Senior opposite THIAGO SIQUEIRA (Newark, NJ/Science) had six kills in two games and sophomore JUSTIN BEAUMONT (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne) landed five kills and hit .500 (5-1-8) in one game of action. Freshman outside hitter KENNY LISK (Old Bridge, NJ/Old Bridge) rejected three solo blocks in one set.

In defeat, the Blue Jays received a match-high 16 kills along with eight digs from junior outside hitter Robert Petri (St. Louis, MO) and junior setter Jay Kwon (Bethpage, NY) had 24 assists and eight digs.

Tied 15-15 in the first set, Rodgers and Pena put NJCU in front with a pair of kills and Pena added two more for a 23-18 edge, before Siqueira floored two winners and Poly made four errors as the Knights took the set by 10, 30-20.

NJCU opened a 21-14 lead in the second set and the Blue Jays never came closer than 23-20. The Knights vaulted out to a 16-1 advantage in the final set and never looked back, hitting .283 for the match (44-16-99), while limiting the opponent to a .033 attack percentage (27-24-91).

NJCU will compete in its toughest portion of the schedule this weekend when it travels to the Endicott College Invitational in Beverly, MA. On Saturday, February 14, NJCU meets Endicott and Emmanuel College at 1 and 3 p.m. On February 15, NJCU meets nationally #5 ranked Rivier College at 1 p.m. before closing the trip against Massachusetts Institute of Technology at 3 p.m.