New Jersey City University Athletics

BOX SCORE

JERSEY CITY, NJ…Sophomore outside hitter MARLEY PENA-GUZMAN (Atlanta, GA/Central Gwinnett) posted a terrific all-around effort with 17 kills, 11 digs, six blocks and five service aces as the New Jersey City University men's volleyball team defeated Lancaster Bible College, 3-1 (30-26, 30-20, 29-31, 30-16) in a non-conference match on Friday night on Charlie Brown Court at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center.

NJCU, which had played 11 consecutive away or neutral site matches, was appearing on its home court for the first time since the Gothic Knight Invitational on February 7. NJCU wins its second straight match, improving to 14-8. Lancaster falls to 6-14. The all-time series is even, 1-1.

NJCU hit .277 as a team with 63 kills (63-22-148), stuffed 11.0 total blocks and landed nine aces. LBC was limited to a team percentage of .069.

Pena, who hit .275 (17-6-40), had two solo blocks. It was his sixth career double-double and his second in a row. Freshman outside hitter KENNY LISK (Old Bridge, NJ/Old Bridge) played just two sets but pounded out a .556 percentage with 10 kills and no errors (10-0-18), while stuffing four blocks (two solo). Sophomore libero CHRIS EDRA (Edison, NJ/JP Stevens) defended 15 digs.

Freshman middle blocker DANNY KOCHANSKI (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne) collected 12 kills, three blocks and two aces, while hitting .296 (12-4-27). Sophomore setter JUSTIN BEAUMONT (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne) provided 31 assists in three sets and sophomore setter JORGE RODRIGUEZ (Havana, Cuba/Memorial) gave out 17 assists in two games. Freshman middle blocker AUSTIN BRYANT (Virginia Beach, VA/Kempsville) finished with eight kills and a .455 attack rate (8-3-11).

Senior outside hitter KEVIN RODGERS (Clifton, NJ/Clifton) added six kills to his career mark of 1,185. Senior opposite THIAGO SIQUEIRA (Newark, NJ/Science) totaled six kills (6-2-15, .267) to move into eighth place in school history with 791 kills.

For the Chargers, sophomore outside hitter Jake Harbold (Chaing Mai, Thailand) tallied a double-double of 13 kills (13-8-38, .132) and 12 digs and freshman outside hitter Jesse Corbin (Pittsburgh, PA) added 10 kills. No other LBC player had more than four kills.

Senior setter Ben Bewley (Lancaster, PA) totaled 33 assists. Sophomore middle hitter Jason Glerum (York, PA) had 10 digs and four aces and freshman libero Brandon Boosz (Canton, OH) chalked up 15 digs.

NJCU hit .378 as a team in the first set with 19 kills (19-5-37) and won despite a good effort from the Chargers, which hit .304 (11-4-23). The Knights turned a 13-10 lead into a 19-13 margin before LBC battled back for a 20-17 score. From there, NJCU scored six of the next seven points to open a 26-18 lead and won 30-26.

In set two, the teams were tied at 10 before a pair of kills by Siqueira and a shot from Pena expanded the lead to 15-10. It was 20-15 before three NJCU players had kills and the cushion stood 25-15 before the Knights won by that same 10-point margin, 30-20.

In the third set it was even at 21 before NJCU committed four attack errors and LBC landed an ace for a 26-21 advantage. Pena served a pair of aces as NJCU cut the deficit to 26-25, and consecutive kills by Kochanski and Rodriguez knotted it at 28-28. Lisk added a winner to force a 29-29 tie, but a service error by NJCU followed by a setting mistake, handed the Chargers a 31-29 win.

In the fourth set, the Knights pounded a .360 percentage (12-3-25) and held LBC to a negative attack rate (9-12-37, -.081). Leading 7-6, NJCU seized a commanding 18-9 lead off of an 11-3 run. Bryant and Pena each had two kills during the spurt. The Knights increased the advantage to as many as 15 points, claiming a 25-10 lead as Lisk pounded two kills and Kochanski smacked two more. Beaumont served an ace on match point.

The match was the second of four matches in four days for NJCU, which travels to #8 ranked Vassar College on March 7 and Yeshiva University on March 8—both North East Collegiate Volleyball Association Metro Division contests.