New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score BOX SCORE

NEW YORK, NY (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Freshman outside hitter BESMIR ARSLANI (Wayne, NJ/Wayne Valley) amassed his fourth 20-kill performance of the season, senior outside hitter KENNY LISK (Old Bridge, NJ/Old Bridge) moved into sixth place in school history in kills and junior setter/opposite JUSTIN BEAUMONT (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne) provided another all-around solid effort as New Jersey City University clinched a Skyline Conference Tournament berth in its first year as an associate member of the league by defeating the Sage Colleges, 3-1 (23-25, 25-19, 25-21, 26-24) in the second match of a Skyline quad on Sunday at the Max Stern Center at Yeshiva University.
 
NJCU (13-15, 8-5 Skyline), which lost to Sage (16-8, 8-4) in Albany, NY on February 27 by a 3-2 result, owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Gators by winning in four sets after losing the opening meeting in five and the Gothic Knights can clinch the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament with a win over the College of Mount Saint Vincent at home on Tuesday, April 3 at 7 p.m. NJCU is 2-1 all-time against Sage.
 
Arslani, the reigning Skyline Player of the Week after earning Skyline Rookie of the Week honors five times, slammed  20 kills and hit .297 (20-9-37) while defending a career-best 18 digs with three service aces and three blocks. It was his fourth career double-double, his 21^st match in 28 outings with double digits in kills and the 15^th time he has posted a match high in kills. His previous digs high was 16 in five sets again Johnson and Wales University on March 25.
 
Lisk floored 13 kills (13-6-36, .194) and added seven kills and two blocks and moved into sixth place in program history with 946 with at least three matches remaining to try to become the sixth member of the 1,000 kill club. He passed Jose Martinez (2000-01, 938 kills) on the career list.
 
Beaumont delivered 40 assists and added seven kills and a .235 attack rate (7-3-17) with a solo block. He helped NJCU hit .282 as a team with a .519 setting percentage.
 
NJCU got serious production out of both its middles. Rookie IVAN PRENSA (Jersey City, NJ/Dickinson), whose previous high was six kills, was the most improved, posting career highs with a .727 attack percentage and nine kills with one error (9-1-11), adding two blocks. Freshman PATRYK RUSZNICA (Cieszyn, Poland/Bayonne) added nine kills, hit .350 (9-2-20) and had four blocks.
 
Junior setter GARY PRESTON, JR. (North East MD/Rising Sun (MD)) finished with 20 assists and sophomore libero A.J. FLORES (Jersey City, NJ/County Prep) provided 10 digs.
 
For Sage, junior middle hitter Spencer Hilland (Slingerlands, NY) hit .424 with a team-high 17 kills (17-3-33), six digs and two blocks and sophomore outside hitter Dylan Krowicki (Little Falls, NY) added 15 kills (15-8-37, .189), eight digs and two blocks. Junior setter Kyle Ray (Horseheads, NY) dished 45 assists and two blocks with a .433 setting percentage.
 
Freshman opposite Scott Fitzgerald (Queensbury, NY) added eight kills and seven digs while junior middle hitter Ryan Kramer hit .357 with seven kills (7-2-14).
 
In the opening set there were nine ties and five lead changes. Tied at 20, Sage twice went ahead by two points on a pair of Fitzgerald kills. Arslani tried to keep NJCU alive, burying a pair of kills, and made it a 24-23 game before Hilland, who planted kills for the 24^th and 25^th Sage points, finished the set with a winner. Hilland had eight kills on 11 attempts (one error) and hit .636 in the period to lead the Gators to a 15-kill, .357 attack percentage. The Knights had 13 kills and hit .207 in the set.
 
In the second set, Arslani hit .571 with five kills (5-1-7). NJCU posted a .400 attack rate as a team with 15 kills (15-3-30) while the Gators were limited to 12 kills and a .207 clip.  After gaining the lead early in the set, NJCU never trailed again and the Gators could not draw closer than 19-16 in the final portion of the game. Prensa had a pair of kills to account for points 22 and 24 before Beaumont clinched the set with a winner.
 
The Knights offense lit up the Gators in set three for 19 kills and a .394 attack percentage (19-6-33). Sage hit well with 14 kills and a .333 rate but didn't have an answer for Arslani and Lisk, who combined for 13 kills in the game. Lisk hit .500 (6-1-10). Hilland hit .833 with five kills (six attempts) and Krowicki, who had five kills in the second and third sets, added a .444 clip.
 
With NJCU trailed 12-11, Lisk tied it, Sage made two errors, and a pair of winners by Arslani gave the Knights a 16-13 advantage. A kill by Prensa, followed by a solo rejection by Arslani pushed the lead to 18-14 before Arslani buried back-to-back shots for a 20-14 cushion. NJCU took the set, 25-21, on Arslani's seventh kill of the period.
 
In the fourth set there were eight ties and three lead changes as both teams' hitting percentages dipped—NJCU had a .154 to .083 differential, with a 15-10 edge in kills. Prensa hit .800 in the set with four kills (five attempts) and Arslani added five winners.
 
NJCU led 20-18 before a Fitzgerald kill and two Knight attack errors put Sage in front, 21-20. A kill by Arslani, a solo block by freshman ANGEL MARTINEZ (Pleasantville, NJ/Pleasantville) and a Prensa winner made it a 23-21 cushion and NJCU held match point at 24-22 after a Sage error. The Gators would tie it at 24-24 after an NJCU service error and a combo block by Hilland and Ray. But Arslani slammed a kill and Ray committed an attack error on match point No. 2.
 
On Tuesday against Mount Saint Vincent, NJCU will honor its lone senior, Lisk, a four-year starter and 2012 co-captain.