New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score SEMIFINAL 1: #1 Kean def. #4 Sage, 3-1 | BOX SCORE
SEMIFINAL 2: #2 Ramapo def. #3 NJCU, 3-2 | BOX SCORE
FINALS: #1 Kean def. #2 Ramapo, 3-0 | BOX SCORE

UNION, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University debuted a new lineup with the goal of catching Ramapo College off guard in the third meeting this season between the schools, coming in the 2012 Skyline Conference Tournament semifinals. And for the first three sets, the strategy worked. But Ramapo collected nine of its 15.0 blocks in the fourth and fifth sets and rallied to survive an upset bid from NJCU in five sets, winning 3-2 (25-19, 19-25, 21-25, 10-25, 15-11) on Saturday at Kean University's Harwood Arena.
 
NJCU's season ends with a record of 14-17 (14-15 vs. Division III) while Ramapo improved to 19-12 and advanced to face top-seeded Kean, 3-1 winners over The Sage Colleges in Saturday's other semifinal, in the league finals. Kean took the championship match, 3-0, and with it, the league's automatic bid to the inaugural NCAA Division III Tournament.
 
For the third time this season and the 16^th consecutive meeting since March 9, 2006, RCNJ prevailed against the long-time rival Gothic Knights as the No. 2 seed improved to 46-11 all-time in the series against NJCU, coming in as the No. 3 seed. Ramapo also defeated NJCU on January 28 in three sets in Jersey City and 3-1 on February 8 in Mahwah, NJ.
 
In defeat, freshman outside hitter BESMIR ARSLANI (Wayne, NJ/Wayne Valley), a seven-time Skyline Conference Rookie of the Week and one-time Player of the Week, smashed a match-high 20 kills and added 12 digs for his fifth double-double of the season, while finishing with an all-around solid match, including a contest-best five service aces (22 serves) with three blocks. He hit .262 (20-9-42). He reached double figures in kills for the 24^th time in 31 matches and posted a match-high in kills for the 18^th time. It was his fifth 20-kill performance of the season.
 
Junior setter/right side JUSTIN BEAUMONT (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne) tallied his eighth double-double of the season and 17^th of his career, finishing with 25 assists, 13 kills, three blocks and three digs. Senior outside hitter KENNY LISK (Old Bridge, NJ/Old Bridge) reached double figures in kills for the eighth time this season and notched his second career double-double, finishing with 10 kills (10-5-31, .161) and 11 digs. He finished his four-year career sixth in school history with 970 kills.
 
Freshman ANGEL MARTINEZ (Pleasantville, NJ/Pleasantville), NJCU's starting opposite all season, made his first start at libero and provided 12 digs. Junior setter GARY PRESTON, JR. (North East MD/Rising Sun (MD)) was featured in a more prominent setting role and delivered a team-best 29 assists.
 
Also for NJCU, freshman middle blocker PATRYK RUSZNICA (Cieszyn, Poland/Bayonne) hit .455 with five kills and no errors (11 swings), adding four blocks. Sophomore middle blocker NATHAN JOUBERT (Union City, NJ/Union City) had five kills and four blocks. Freshman IVAN PRENSA (Jersey City, NJ/Dickinson) made his first appearance as a right-side hitter and delivered four kills.
 
Ramapo was led by the effort of sophomore opposite Brian Colabella (Upper Montclair, NJ/Montclair), who hit .464 with a team-best 14 kills (14-1-28) and seven blocks (six assisted). Senior middle blocker Colin McNeill (Little Falls, NJ/Passaic Valley) had 12 kills, hit .333 (12-4-24) and also combined for seven blocks.
 
Senior outside hitter Paul Konopacki (Monroe Township, NJ/St. Joseph's Metuchen) had 12 kills, six digs and two blocks and junior middle blocker Joel Castro (Vernon, NJ/Vernon Township) hit .333 with eight kills (8-2-18) and seven blocks.
 
Also for the Roadrunners, sophomore outside hitter Jeff Jones (Manahawkin, NJ/Southern Regional) had eight kills (8-3-21, .238), four aces and three blocks while serving 31 times. Sophomore libero Aaron Kerschner (Harrisburg, PA/Central Dauphin) provided a match-best 17 digs. Sophomore setter Andrew Balint (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) had 33 assists in three sets before sophomore Harsh Prajapati (Old Bridge, NJ/Old Bridge) entered as setter in the fourth set, with RCNJ trailing 2-1, and delivered 13 assists and two blocks.
 
SET 1 CAPSULE
There were seven ties and four lead changes in the opening period with Ramapo owning a 14-10 margin in kills and a .244 to .053 differential in attack percentage. Jones led Ramapo with five kills and a .625 percentage (5-0-8). Colabella had four kills and Kerschner finished with eight digs. Lisk floored four kills for NJCU. Martinez had seven digs but Arslani only had one kill and made three errors in eight attempts as he was slow to get going but had two aces.
 
NJCU jumped out to a 6-3 lead highlighted by two kills by Lisk, one by Beaumont and an Arslani ace. After Ramapo scored the next three to tie it, Lisk got a side out with a kill and Joubert and Beaumont teamed for a block and moved ahead 9-6 on a right side smash from Beaumont. Ramapo regained a 10-9 lead on a double block by Castro and  Colabella and made it 11-9 on a ball handling error. Konopacki increased the lead to 12-10 with a kill before Prensa, playing right side for the first time in his career, answered. A roll shot by Arslani cut the deficit to 13-12 and a double block by Arslani and Joubert tied it. On the next point the clubs battled back with several zero blocks before Ramapo took the point, but Rusznica tied it at 14 with a middle smash on the next sequence. Beaumont killed an outside set to tie it at 15-15 and Arslani floored an ace for a 16-15 lead before RCNJ evened it at 16-16. An attack error gave RCNJ back the lead and a Colabella winner off the block extended the lead to two. McNeill earned a kill for a 19-16 advantage and a Ramapo putback of an over ball made it 20-16 before Jones' run at serve ended on a service error. But Konopacki landed a kill for a 21-17 lead. Colabella put down an over ball for 22-17 before Lisk crushed a shot at 22-18. Colabella landed another cross court shot (23-18) before a kill by Castro on an over ball and a Jones winner on set point gave the Roadrunners a 25-19 win.

SET 2 CAPSULE
Arslani came alive in a major way in the second set, hitting .700 with seven kills and no errors (10 attempts) and his involvement ignited NJCU, which had a 16-13 margin in kills and by far the highest attack percentage in any game during the match, as the Knights hit .467, making only two errors in 30 attempts. NJCU never trailed in the set and were tied only four times.
 
In fact, NJCU's first three points were on kills by Arslani. A kill and ace by Beaumont made it 5-3 before Konopacki put a ball down. A Jones attack sailed long but Castro killed a ball on the right side (6-5). Arslani slammed another winner for a 7-5 lead. Jones put a ball away (7-6) and Balint tied it with an ace. A RCNJ service error and Arslani roll shot made it 9-7 and Beaumont tooled the block for 10-7 before a combo block by Rusznica and Arslani made it 11-7. RCNJ had a kill by McNeill but hit the next attack long. Rusznica put away a shot on the back line (13-10) and a double block by Beaumont and Joubert made it 14-10 before Lisk put away a kill for 15-10. Castro ended the run with a kill. Beaumont crushed a back slide for a 16-11 lead and Prensa drove one down the line for a 17-12 edge. Jones drew RCNJ within four with a kill. Beaumont, now at setter, saved a bad pass and set up Joubert for a back corner kill (18-13). The teams traded service errors before Colabella tooled the block and RCNJ scored off an attack error. Arslani was able to put away a shot off the block to save a bad pass and a block by Lisk and Rusznica made it 21-16. Colabella killed a ball on the right side. However, on a broken play the momentum swayed towards NJCU when Arlsani destroyed a ball off a RCNJ player's shoulder for a 22-17 edge. Colabella and Lisk traded kills (23-18) before a serve sailed long. Prensa tooled the block and Ramapo's final attack sailed long as NJCU won set two, 25-19.

SET 3 CAPSULE
Beaumont had four kills in the third set and in a well-rounded attack, Lisk, Arslani and Joubert each put away three balls. Arslani also had three service aces in the set. NJCU hit .290 with 15 kills (15-6-31) while Ramapo tallied a .241 clip (12-5-29). Colabella, McNeill and Castro each had three kills for RCNJ. After NJCU took an early lead, it was never relinquished.
 
NJCU took a 3-1 lead on an Arslani ace and a Beaumont tip off the block at the end of a long rally. Arslani crushed back-to-back aces, including one off the net (5-1) before Colabella put a ball away. Beaumont added a kill and the lead swelled to 7-2 on a block by Beaumont and Joubert. An overball led to a kill by Joubert for an 8-2 edge. Lisk annihilated a kill on the outside for a 9-3 lead before Konopacki answered. Prensa responded with a kill. Beaumont saved another bad reception and Joubert put it away (11-5) before Arslani hammered down a ball.
 
Castro put down a one-ball before an attack error cut the deficit to 12-7. Arslani put away another kill (13-7). McNeill had a kill (13-9) before Rusznica answered in the middle. A double block by McNeill and Konopacki cut the lead to 14-12 and forced NJCU to use a timeout.
 
The timeout iced RCNJ as Jones served long and McNeill hit wide (16-12). Colabella had a kill to cut it to three and Colabella and Castro teamed for another block to make it a two-point game. Beaumont answered with a back slide smash and a Lisk kill (18-14) followed by an over ball that went long put NJCU back on top by five (19-14) before Lisk killed another ball off the block. Colabella had a right side finish (20-15) and NJCU missed wide (20-16) before two bad receptions cut the lead to three, including an over ball put down by Castro. NJCU called timeout leading 20-18.
 
The timeout worked, NJCU broke the serve of senior Mike Hrehovcik (Little Falls, NJ/Passaic Valley) and Joubert crushed a shot in the middle followed by a Ramapo attack error and the lead was 22-18. A ball handling error gave RCNJ sideout but NJCU responded as Arslani thundered a winner (23-19). Castro finished a kill in the middle to make it a three-point game and Arslani had an attack error. With the lead 23-21, an NJCU overball gave RCNJ a chance for a backrow attack. But Castro's swing sailed long and Beaumont put away an attack on the next possession from right side for a 25-21 win.

SET 4 CAPSULE
With its back against the wall, Ramapo made several adjustments in the fourth set, including switching setters, bringing in Prajapati. Most notably, the Roadrunners combined for six blocks and 11 digs in the set and hit .348 as a team (10-2-23)—its most accurate percentage of the match. Meanwhile, NJCU had its kill total cut in half. The Knight hit -.061 with eight kills (8-10-33) as RCNJ vaulted out in front to a huge lead.
 
Beaumont started with a backrow kill and Arslani had a kill off the block before RCNJ took a 5-2 lead at the end of a double block by Colabella and McNeill followed by an ace by Jones. An overball on the next ball was put down by Colabella. Arslani ended the Ramapo 6-2 run with a winner but served the next ball wide. Lisk and Colabella traded winners and Castro put away a one ball (9-4). A setting error followed by a tip by Konopacki gave RCNJ an 11-4 edge  and forced NJCU to burn its second timeout. After a pancake dig kept alive the next possession, Konopacki landed a kill and NJCU was called for a lift and RCNJ led 13-4. A net violation made it 14-4. RCNJ increased the lead to 18-6 on a Castro solo block and back-to-back combo blocks by Castro and Jones before Jones hammered home a ball on the outside (19-6). A double block by Castro and Prajapati made it 20-6 before NJCU made a pair of subs to prepare for the fifth set. NJCU got to eight points on two Arslani kills but a McNeill/Prajapati combo block made it 22-8. A double block by Rusznica and Arslani allowed NJCU to reach 10 points. RCNJ went on to win 25-10.

SET 5 CAPSULE
In the decisive fifth set, NJCU had an 8-5 advantage in kills but the Knights committed six attack errors as RCNJ converted three blocks. Ramapo only made two attack errors in the period. McNeill came up big in the game with three assisted blocks and two kills in four attempts. Arslani was NJCU's most productive player, hitting .500 with five kills (5-1-8).
 
NJCU committed an opening service error before Arslani had a kill off a tip and when Arslani had a power jump float over the net, Rusznica put down the over ball. But Ramapo would sideout on a service error before taking a 3-2 lead off a Colabella and McNeill stuff and Jones served an ace for a 4-2 lead. Ramapo would not trail again.
 
After an NJCU timeout, McNeill and Konopacki teamed for another block and Jones served another ace for a 6-2 lead and the Knights burned their final timeout. Two attack errors gave RCNJ an 8-2 lead before Jones finally missed a serve. NJCU cut it to 8-4 before McNeill knocked down a two ball. Beaumont made it a four-point game with a kill. Konopacki slammed down the 10^th point but Joubert answered right back and Prensa and Joubert blocked down a ball for a three-point deficit (10-7).
 
But Konopacki responded with an outside winner (11-7). After Arslani put one away, Jones uncorked a kill for a 12-8 RCNJ lead. Arslani made one last-ditch effort to revive his team, crushing a ball off the block (12-9) and Arslani rifling down another shot to make it a two-point game, 12-10. A double block on the right side by Jones and McNeill made it 13-10 and an attack error gave RCNJ four match points. Arslani kept it alive for one more point with his 20th kill before McNeill won it in the middle with the decisive winner.