New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score CENTERVILLE, MA (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | For the first time since 2010 and the sixth time in nine years since, the New Jersey City University men's volleyball team is post-season bound. The Gothic Knights (19-16) have received the No. 4 seed in the four-team Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III South Tournament. The semifinal and finals will both be played on Saturday, April 20 in Stevenson, Maryland and hosted by top-seeded and No. 9 nationally ranked Stevenson University.
 
NJCU, which has never won an ECAC championship but finished as runners-up three times (2006, 2007, 2010), will have its work cut out for it, when it faces the host Mustangs (24-12), which enter the match with a 7-2 home mark at the Owings Mills Gymnasium.
 
The winner of the 11 a.m. semifinal match will face the winner of the 1 p.m. semifinal between second-seeded Ramapo College (19-11) and third-seeded York College (19-16) in the 3 p.m. championship match.
 
“It's pretty exciting for us to get there,” said first-year head coach Ray Vance about the club's first post-season appearance in four seasons. “It shows the improvement from last year and hopefully will be a building block for us going forward. Stevenson is a tough matchup. We'll be playing a little short-handed but I feel we can complete and we'll do our best and see what happens.”
 
NJCU will participate for the sixth time in 11 tournaments since it was established in 2003. The Knights are 4-5 all-time in the ECAC Tournament, having also lost in the semifinals in 2005 and 2009.
 
NJCU and Stevenson last faced each other on March 9, 2012 at Stevenson, Md. with the Mustangs winning 3-0. SU leads the all-time series, 10-7, claiming the last four meetings. The schools have met once in the ECAC Tournament; on April 11, 2009 second-seeded Stevenson edged third-seeded NJCU, 3-2.
 
Stevenson won the 2011 ECAC South championship and Ramapo has won an ECAC title five times—four ECAC South crowns (2003, 2005, 2006, 2007) and the 2012 ECAC Northeast title.
 
NJCU has lost its last three matches, including twice against No. 14 ranked Kean University, most recently a 3-0 decision in the Skyline Conference semifinals on April 13. NJCU is 0-7 against nationally ranked opponents this year, losing six of the seven matches in three sets. The Knights are seeking their eighth 20-win season and the first since 2009.
 
The Mustangs, ranked No. 9 nationally by the American Volleyball Coaches Association for the fourth consecutive week, will play for the first time since losing in the semifinals of the Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) in five sets on April 13 against NCAA-Tournament bound UC-Santa Cruz.  SU is currently two wins shy of its school record.
 
Of the Mustangs' 12 losses this season, nine have come against teams ranked in the Top 10 of the AVCA Division III Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll. The team is 7-11 against teams ranked in the AVCA poll, including 2-5 against the top five with wins over No. 2 Carthage on February 9 and No. 3 and 2013 CVC champion Juniata on March 8.
 
If NJCU advances, it is 0-2 against Ramapo this season, losing 3-1 on February 17 and 3-0 on February 27. The Knights split with York, prevailing 3-1 on the road on January 29 before falling, also 3-1, at York on March 9.