New Jersey City University Athletics

| Box Score 2 BOX SCORE vs. BARD
BOX SCORE: Bard vs. Lehman
GAME PROGRAM/NOTES

JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University junior setter/opposite JUSTIN BEAUMONT (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne) notched his third straight double-double and 12^th of his career to lead three Gothic Knights in double figures in kills as NJCU concluded a 2-0 non-conference tri-match on Sunday by defeating Bard College, 3-1 (25-18, 25-19, 21-25, 25-13) on the final contest of three hosted by NJCU at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center on “Coach Charlie Brown Court.”
 
NJCU evens its record at 7-7, winning both ends of the tri-match after an earlier 3-2 decision against Lehman College. The Lightning defeated Bard, 3-2 (29-31, 25-14, 22-25, 25-23, 16-14), in the middle contest. The Knights lead the all-time series, 16-3 and own an 8-0 home record against the Raptors since the schools first met in 1990, the first year of the Knights' program. Bard (5-7) lost its seventh in a row after a 5-0 start to the season.
 
Beaumont continues to shine in a dual role as a setter and hitter. He did not make an error in 21 attempts and floored 12 kills for a .571 attack percentage, while delivering 26 assists and six digs. It was his fifth career match with double figures in kills, including the last three outings.
 
Senior outside hitter KENNY LISK (Old Bridge, NJ/Old Bridge) continues to climb the charts towards the 1,000 kill plateau. He made just one error on 19 swings while hammering down 12 kills, thus increasing his career mark to 835 kills.
 
Freshman outside hitter and two-time Skyline Conference Rookie of the Week BESMIR ARSLANI (Wayne, NJ/Wayne Valley) had match-highs with 14 kills and 12 digs, hitting .182 (14-8-33) with four of NJCU's 12 service aces, and two blocks. He reached double figures in kills for the 11^th time in 14 matches this year and had the match-high in kills for a 10th time. The 12 digs were a career high for Arslani, who generated his second double-double.
 
NJCU junior setter GARY PRESTON, JR. (North East MD/Rising Sun (MD)) provided 20 assists and notched his first career solo block on match point. Freshman middle blocker PATRYK RUSZNICA (Cieszyn, Poland/Bayonne) rejected four blocks—the eighth time this year he has tallied four or more stuffs —and added seven kills and two aces.
 
Rookie opposite ANGEL MARTINEZ (Pleasantville, NJ/Pleasantville) had five kills, five digs and three aces and junior VIN GENOVA (South Plainfield, NJ/South Plainfield) landed three aces and six digs. Sophomore libero A.J. FLORES (Jersey City, NJ/County Prep) defended nine digs.
 
Bard was led by senior outside hitter Nick Chan (Victor, NY/Victor) with 13 kills, eight digs and a .357 attack percentage (13-3-28). Sophomore setter Henry Kasiske (Los Angeles, CA/Windward School) tallied 28 assists and five digs. Senior middle blocker Ryan Fallon (Ridgewood, NY/Grover Cleveland) posted four blocks, including two solo setdowns. Sophomore outside hitter Billy Williams (Livingston, NJ/Livingston) finished with eight digs and six kills.
 
NJCU hit .292 as a team (51-18-113) and had a 51-34 differential in kills, with 69.0 points, 12 aces and 6.0 blocks. Bard was limited to a .126 team percentage (34-20-111).

In the opening set, NJCU slammed 15 kills as a team and posted a .333 attack percentage (15-5-30). Lisk did most of  the damage, slugging six kills and no errors in eight attempts for a .750 rate. Bard was limited to seven kills (.036) with four coming from Chan, who hit .600 in the game. Tied, 8-8, NJCU opened a four-point lead on consecutive kills by Rusznica, Lisk and Beaumont, followed by a double block by Beaumont and Rusznica. Another kill by Rusznica followed by back-to-back Lisk shots made it a 15-9 advantage and NJCU cruised to a seven-point, 25-18 decision from there.
 
In the second set, NJCU again registered 15 total kills, hitting .286 in the period (15-5-35), and Arslani performed to a .357 attack percentage and seven kills (7-2-14) while Beaumont hit .800 with four kills on five swings, adding eight assists. Bard hit .219 with nine kills in the game (9-2-32). There were four ties, including 14-14, but NJCU never trailed. With the set even, Martinez unleashed two aces, and Arslani followed each with a winner for an 18-14 margin. Two kills from Beaumont followed by consecutive aces from Arslani pushed the lead to 22-16. Bard drew within three, before Lisk, Arslani and Beaumont each slammed down kills to win the game, 25-19.
 
Chan kept the Raptors alive in the third set when he collected six kills and no errors on nine attempts for a .667 percentage. Each team had nine kills in the game, but Bard hit .286 and the Knights percentage dropped to .038. NJCU committed 16 total errors in the set as Bard prevailed by four, 25-21. The Raptors led 20-15 before the Knights reeled off five of the next six points to close within one, 21-20. Arslani unleashed back-to-back aces and Beaumont chalked up two kills during the run. Another kill by Beaumont, who had four kills and hit .500 in the set, made it 22-21, before Bard scored the final three points of the game, with the last two coming off Gothic Knight attack errors.
 
However, the sloppiness of the third set was a distant memory in a dominant fourth set in which NJCU hit a colossal .545 with 12 kills and no attack errors (22 attempts), with Arslani crushing an .833 percentage on five kills (six swings). Meanwhile, Bard hit .000 in the set with nine kills and nine errors. The Knights jumped out leads of 5-1, 8-3 and 12-5. Still leading 13-8, NJCU put the match away with five of the next six points. Two kills by Arslani and an ace and kill by Rusznica pushed the differential to nine, 18-9. Leading 20-12, the Knights capped the match with five of the final six points, and clinched the victory with Preston's solo rejection on match point.

 
NJCU returns to the court on Tuesday, February 21 at 7 p.m. when it hosts Rutgers-Newark, a Division III school in transition from a Division I volleyball program, in Jersey City. It will be the first-ever meeting in men's volleyball between the two schools who are notable rivals in the New Jersey Athletic Conference in other sports.