New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score BOX SCORE

BROOKLYN, NY (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University's first-ever match as an associate member of the Skyline Conference in men's volleyball was nothing short of a success as the Gothic Knights received a combined 23 kills from its two starting outside hitters, freshman BESMIR ARSLANI (Wayne, NJ/Wayne Valley) and senior captain KENNY LISK (Old Bridge, NJ/Old Bridge) as the Gothic Knights rolled past Polytechnic Institute of New York University, 3-0 (26-24, 25-18, 25-15) on Monday night in the 2012 season opener for both schools at the Jacobs Center.
 
NJCU (1-0, 1-0 Skyline) made first-year head coach Kevin Rodgers a winner in his debut, just as the Gothic Knight women's volleyball team did in his first two matches at the helm of that program in September. NYU-Poly falls to 0-1 (0-1 Skyline). NJCU improved to 24-0 all-time against the Blue Jays, including 22 sweeps.
 
NJCU was dominant on attack, smashing a .427 attack percentage with 42 kills and only 10 errors in 75 attempts, while combining for 6.0 blocks. NYU-Poly was limited to .125 hitting (23-15-64) and Arslani and Lisk combined to collect as many kills as the entire opposing squad.
 
“Winning this match means a lot,” said Rodgers, “because we've had practice for the last couple of weeks and these guys were nervous but excited at the same time. It was fun watching them putting everything together that we worked on in practice. [Winning my first match as head coach] will be something I'll always remember.”
 
Arslani, the highly-touted addition to the Gothic Knight offense following a two-time Second-Team All-State high school career, did not disappoint in his collegiate debut, hammering a match-high 14 kills (14-4-20) with a .500 attack percentage, six digs and one solo block.,
 
The 14 kills were the most by an NJCU player in a season opener since Rodgers, then a junior, had 14 on January 22, 2008. Meanwhile, the 14 kills are the most by a Gothic Knight rookie in a career-debut during the rally scoring era and the most in a match of any structure since Jose Martinez slammed 25 kills against the City College of New York on January 18, 2000.
 
“Bez brings a lot of energy to the court and his energy fires up everyone else,” Rodgers noted about his highly-regarded newcomer. “Every time he would get a kill, the entire team got excited.”
 
Lisk hit .400 with nine kills (9-3-15) and two blocks and the entire offense was paced by junior setter/opposite JUSTIN BEAUMONT (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne), who rejoined the lineup this season for the first time since 2009, and dished 30 assists with two blocks in his return. He shared setting duties in the opening set before playing all-around in the final two sets. Beaumont, the other 2012 captain, also hit .333 with four kills (4-1-9).
 
A pair of NJCU rookies also had stellar debuts. Freshman middle blocker PATRYK RUSZNICA (Cieszyn, Poland/Bayonne) a former Third-Team All-State selection, was errorless on attack with six kills and a .400 percentage (6-0-15), and he stuffed four blocks and landed three of NJCU's seven service aces. Freshman libero/opposite ANGEL MARTINEZ (Pleasantville, NJ/Pleasantville) hit .500 with five kills (5-1-8), five digs and two aces.
 
Sophomore NATHAN JOUBERT (Union City, NJ/Union City) hit .375 (4-1-8) and junior setter GARY PRESTON, JR. (North East, MD/Rising Sun (MD)) added six assists.
 
“I knew coming into the season we had a lot of talent but only two of our starters back from last year [Lisk, Joubert]” noted Rodgers, who spent the last two seasons as NJCU's assistant coach. “I knew our biggest issue was going to be chemistry. In the first game, the chemistry was off, but by the end of the second game and in the third game I thought we were gelling a lot better on both sides of the ball.”
 
NYU-Poly got a team-high nine kills from sophomore outside hitter Fild Kroqi (Bronx, NY); he added six digs. Senior outside hitter Joe Gabor (Warwick, NY) finished with seven digs and setter Rishi Sarkar added 21 assists.
 
NJCU hit .500 in the opening set (10-2-16), but needed to be accurate because the Blue Jays hit .316 and had one more kill than the Knights (11-5-19) as the game featured 13 ties and five lead changes. Arslani hit .667 in the set with five kills (5-1-6); Kroqi hit .571 with five kills (5-1-7) for Poly. Neither side has more than a two-point lead at any moment in the game. A kill by Kroqi gave the Blue Jays set point, leading 24-23. But after an NJCU timeout, Poly had a service error, opening the door for NJCU. After a Poly attack error, a combined block by Rusznica and Beaumont gave NJCU a 26-24 opening set decision.
 
In the second set, NJCU had a whopping 15-5 kills advantage, and hit .345 (15-5-29). There were 10 ties and two lead changes, but most occurred in the first portion of the game. After a 17-17 tie, Lisk slammed back-to-back kills and Rusznica and Martinez stuffed a block for a 20-18 lead before an ace by Beaumont and an Arslani winner made it 22-18. Rusznica and Lisk teamed for a block for the 23^rd point before a solo stuff by Arslani resulted in the sixth straight point for NJCU, which won the game, 25-18. Lisk was the hot hand in the period, hitting .500 with six kills (6-2-8).
 
The third set was all NJCU, which never trailed and hit .467 with a decisive 17-7 advantage in kills (17-3-30). Arslani hit .500 in the period with five winners (5-1-8) and Rusznica hit .667 (4-0-6).
 
“Our block was set most of the time and our middles didn't get faked out,” Rodgers noted about one of NJCU's strengths in the match. “We were consistently penetrating over the net.”
 
NJCU will open its 2012 home schedule on Wednesday, January 25 at 7 p.m. in a non-conference match against York College (NY).