New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score BOX SCORE
GAME PROGRAM/NOTES: Inside-the-Athlete feature, JUSTIN BEAUMONT

JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Eighth-ranked Baruch College used a well-balanced attack from 14 different players and never trailed in the first and third sets as the Bearcats swept a non-conference men's volleyball match from New Jersey City University, 3-0 (25-13, 25-20, 25-19) on February 5 at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center on 'Coach Charlie Brown Court.'
 
Baruch (5-0), ranked #8 in the latest AVCA Division III Top 15 National Poll, remained undefeated by hitting .300 as a team and serving 10 aces. NJCU (4-3), dropped its second straight 3-0 decision after a 4-1 start. Baruch won the fourth consecutive meeting between the schools.
 
In defeat, sophomore outside hitter BESMIR ARSLANI (Wayne, NJ/Wayne Valley) led all players with 11 kills and hit .348 with just three errors (23 attempts), while adding two blocks. He reached double figures in kills for the 29^th time in 38 career matches (.763). He posted a match-high in kills for the 22^nd time in his career.
 
Also for NJCU, senior setter/outside hitter JUSTIN BEAUMONT (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne) tallied 13 assists, six kills and two blocks and senior setter GARY PRESTON, JR. (North East MD/Rising Sun (MD)) chipped in 11 assists. Freshman middle blocker DAQUE WILCOX (Camden, NJU/Camden County Tech) rejected six assisted blocks.
 
For Baruch, only two players saw action in all three sets. Freshman setter Scott Standring (Moraga, CA) led the Bearcats with 27 assists in 45 attempts for a stellar .600 accuracy rate. Junior middle blocker Steven Coniglio (Old Bethpage, NY) hit at a .636 rate with seven kills and no errors on 11 attempts in three games. He added two aces and two blocks.
 
Junior outside hitter Nick Smith (Long Beach, NY) landed seven kills with two blocks in a two sets while senior middle blocker Martin Joksimovik (Skopje, Macedonia) added five kills (5-2-10, .300) and two blocks in two games. Five other players tallied at least two kills.
 
Baruch hit .480 as a team in the opening set and had a 14-6 advantage in kills while only committing two attack errors. NJCU committed four blocking errors to aid in falling behind. Baruch senior outside Gabriel Rivera (Central Islip, NY), who hit .600 with four kills (4-1-5) in two sets, was a perfect 4-for-4 in the opening game and Joksimovik added a .571 percentage with four kills (4-0-7) with Smith landing four more winners and hitting .500 (4-1-6). Arslani had two-thirds of NJCU's winners, hitting .500 with four kills (4-0-8).
 
Baruch jumped out to early leads of 4-1 and held an 8-2 cushion after back-to-back kills by Rivera. Baruch extended the advantage to 16-8 on a double block and pushed the lead to double figures at 22-12 when Smith landed another winner and Coniglio uncorked an ace. Kills by Joksimovik and Smith sealed the 25-13 win.
 
The second set was the most competitive with 10 ties and five lead changes, and Baruch held a slim 11-9 edge in kills. Coniglio (3-0-6, .500), Smith,  and junior right side Jack McKee (Bay Shore, NY) each had three kills for the visitors while four different NJCU players mustered two kills apiece.
 
NJCU led early 9-6 after an Arslani back-row put away and a BC attack error and 10-7 after a winner from sophomore middle blocker IVAN PRENSA (Jersey City, NJ/Dickinson) before Standring served consecutive aces and Joksimovik had a solo block to give Baruch a 12-11 lead. Wilcox teamed with Arslani, then Beaumont, for back-to-back blocks to give NJCU back a one-point lead and Arslani made it 14-13 with a kill. That would be NJCU's final lead of the night. The clubs traded ties at 14, 15 and 16-16 before Baruch unleashed a 6-0 run to claim a 22-16 advantage. A kill by Coniglio after a diving dig kept the play alive put BC back on top and Smith recorded back-to-back blocks, the second assisted by Coniglio for a 19-16 edge. Coniglio floored a kill in the middle, and then was part of a double block than made it 22-16. Coniglio later aced NJCU for a 24-18 lead and Joksimovik iced the period with a kill at 25-20.
 
There were three ties in game three and NJCU held a 10-9 edge in kills, primarily against the Bearcat reserves, who held their own with a .353 team percentage (9-3-17) on attack. But Coniglio remained on the floor and paced Baruch with a .750 percentage in the period with three kills in four swings; three other Bearcats had two kills. Arslani tried to slug NJCU back into contention, hitting .571 in the period with five kills (one error) on seven attempts, while Beaumont had three kills and hit .500 (3-1-4).
 
NJCU was within two points, 10-8, after Arslani powered down back-to-back kills, before four errors by the Knights and a yellow card gave Baruch a 16-11 cushion. NJCU wasn't able to draw closer than three points the remainder of the set before Baruch prevailed, 25-19, taking the match on its 10^th ace of the night.
 
NJCU is back on the court on Thursday, February 7 at 7 p.m. with a Skyline Conference road match against Polytechnic Institute of New York University in Brooklyn, NY. NJCU is 25-0 all-time against NYU-Poly (23 sweeps).