New Jersey City University Athletics

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GAME PROGRAM

JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University freshman outside hitter BESMIR ARSLANI (Wayne, NJ/Wayne Valley) pounded a match-high 15 kills, but Ramapo College hit .239 and rejected 11 blocks, remaining undefeated by sweeping a Skyline Conference men's volleyball match from NJCU, 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-22) in the late contest of a Skyline Quad match hosted by NJCU on 'Coach Charlie Brown Court' at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center.
 
Ramapo, which defeated a pair of nationally ranked teams last weekend (#14 Philadelphia Biblical University and #15 Vassar College), and swept NYU-Poly in the day's earlier match, improved to 4-0 and 2-0 Skyline in its first-ever pair of Skyline games. NJCU, after a 2-0 start, fell to 2-2 overall and 1-2 in the Skyline, having dropped an earlier 3-2 decision to Kean. Ramapo leads the all-time series, 44-11 and has won the last 14 meetings.
 
Arslani, who has 65 kills for an average of 4.64 kills per set through his first four collegiate matches, hit .118 (15-11-34) and had two aces and three assists.
 
NJCU junior setter JUSTIN BEAUMONT (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne) delivered 28 assists. Senior outside hitter KENNY LISK (Old Bridge, NJ/Old Bridge) crossed the 750-kill threshold for his career, finishing with eight kills (8-5-25, .120), five digs and three blocks (one solo) while freshman opposite ANGEL MARTINEZ (Pleasantville, NJ/Pleasantville) hit .250 with eight kills (8-4-16), five digs and one solo block. Junior libero VIN GENOVA (South Plainfield, NJ/South Plainfield) had 12 digs.
 
No Ramapo player had more than eight kills, but in a balanced attack, the Roadrunners saw five men put down at least five winners as sophomore setter Andrew Balint (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) posted a .437 setting percentage, 31 assists, six digs and two blocks in pacing the offense.
 
Senior middle blocker Colin McNeill (Little Falls, NJ/Passaic Valley) hit .500 with a team-high eight kills (8-2-12) and  three blocks and senior outside hitter Paul Konopacki (Monroe Township, NJ/St. Joseph's-Metuchen) collected seven kills without an error (7-0-19), a .368 percentage and seven blocks (two solo).
 
Also for RCNJ, sophomore opposite Brian Colabella (Upper Montclair, NJ/Montclair) had seven kills and hit .250 (7-3-16). Sophomore outside Jeff Jones (Manahawkin, NJ/Southern Regional) had six kills and junior middle blocker Joel Castro (Vernon, NJ/Vernon Township) added five kills, five assisted blocks and three aces.
 
All three sets were statistically balanced and generally competitive, with Ramapo having just one more kill than NJCU in the match (35-34). But NJCU committed 25 attack errors and hit .098 (34-25-92) while the Roadrunners committed just 14 and hit .239 (35-14-88).
 
In the opening set, RCNJ landed a .370 percentage and led 17-11 and 21-14. NJCU was able to whittle the lead to 24-21 but after hitting .240 with 13 kills in the period, couldn't catch up and fell 25-21.
 
In the second set the long-time rivals traded 10 ties and four leads. With RCNJ leading 20-18, NJCU tied it on a solo block by Lisk before a kill from Colabella and a Konopacki solo block gave Ramapo back a two-point lead. Konopacki made it 23-21 with a winner. NJCU drew within 23-22 before back-to-back errors gave RCNJ the three-point win, 25-22.
 
Arslani had six of NJCU's eight kills in the third set and the teams traded seven ties and four leads. RCNJ had four blocks in the period, took control of the game midway through the set, and owned a 24-17 lead before the Knights staved off five match points behind the serving of Beaumont. NJCU pulled within 24-22, but couldn't draw closer as an attack error ended the rally.
 
NJCU will head to Newark, NJ on Tuesday, January 31 at 7 p.m. when the Gothic Knights face Division I New Jersey Institute of Technology for the first time since February 6, 1997. NJCU is 0-7 all-time against the Highlanders. RCNJ faces #8 Stevens Institute of Technology and Division I Sacred Heart University on February 4 at Stevens in Hoboken, NJ.