New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score 1 BOX SCORES: NJCU vs. Kean | Yeshiva vs. Mount
GAME PROGRAM/NOTES: Inside-the-Athletes, JUSTIN BEAUMONT and Gary Preston, Jr.

JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University received 10 kills by four-time Skyline Conference  Player of the Week and sophomore outside hitter BESMIR ARSLANI (Wayne, NJ/Wayne Valley), but No. 14 ranked Kean University owned a 37-23 advantage in kills and stuffed nine blocks in sweeping the second match of a Skyline Conference Quad hosted by NJCU from the Gothic Knights on April 7, 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-22), at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center on 'Coach Charlie Brown Court.' NJCU fell to 0-6 against nationally ranked opponents this season.
 
Kean, ranked #14 in the latest AVCA Division III Top 15 Poll, won its 11^th consecutive match and improved to 23-7 (13-1 Skyline) and captured its second consecutive Skyline Conference regular season championship and the right to host the league's semifinals and finals on April 13 in Union, NJ.
 
NJCU, the #4 seed in the tournament, dropped to 19-14 (8-5 Skyline) and will face the Cougars again next Saturday in the conference semifinals. Kean leads the brief all-time series, 6-0.
 
The Cougars were paced by reigning Skyline Player of the Year and senior outside hitter  Steve Vahalla (Bloomfield, NJ/Bloomfield), who hit .348 with 11 kills (11-3-23), landed seven aces and added five digs and one solo block. The Cougars hit .267 as a team as five players had at least four kills.
 
Arslani hit .217 with 10 kills on 23 attempts (five errors), adding one solo block. He posted the 40th double-digit kill effort in 58 career matches (.690) and the 16^th time in 27 matches this year.  
 
Senior setter/outside JUSTIN BEAUMONT (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne) delivered 13 assists, seven kills, six digs and two blocks (one solo). No other player had more than two kills.
 
For the Cougars, sophomore setter Alex Barnhard (Old Bridge, NJ/Old Bridge) distributed 30 assists in 58 chances for a .517 accuracy rate, adding four digs, three aces (one solo) and two aces. Sophomore middle hitter Kyle Farley (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill West) hit at a .385 pace with seven kills (7-2-13) and five blocks.
 
Also contributing for Kean was sophomore outside hitter  John Cunningham (Cinnaminson, NJ/Cinnaminson), who tallied seven kills, three blocks and two aces while sophomore right side Ed Jedziniak (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) added six kills and two blocks.
 
Vahalla paced Kean in the opening set, finishing with four of the team's 10 kills. Arslani tallied four of NJCU's seven putaways. The Cougars used five blocks to force seven Gothic Knight attack errors in the period. NJCU pulled within one point, 15-14, midway through the game before Kean scored six consecutive points during Vahalla's serve, including four aces and three in a row, to claim a 21-14 advantage, and won by eight, 25-17.
 
In game two, Farley led Kean with four kills and a .429 percentage (4-1-7) as the Cougars hit .233 and tallied a 13-8 differential in kills. The Knights had a .227 percentage in the set (8-3-22) and Arslani had half  of the club's winners with four (4-1-9, .333). Trailing 16-14, NJCU forced a tie after a kill by Beaumont and an Arslani ace. But a 5-1 spurt allowed the visitors to regain control, highlighted by a Cunningham ace, a block by Barnhard and a Farley finish for a 21-17 margin. A kill by Barnhard clinched the set, 25-21.
 
In game three, NJCU scored the first four points and held leads of 7-3 and 8-4 before the Cougars rallied to tie it at nine apiece. Three lead changes and eight ties ensued, the last at 17-17. Arslani and Vahalla traded kills before a Kean service error again saw a near tie with the Cougars ahead, 21-20. But an NJCU service error, and back-to-back aces by Barnhard made it 24-20 and Vahalla clinched the match with a winner. The Cougars had 14 kills in the third set and hit .320 behind five kills apiece from Vahalla (5-1-8, .500) and Cunningham (5-3-8, .250) and 11 assists from Barnhard. Beaumont had four kills for NJCU and Arslani added three as the team's two All-Skyline standouts had seven of the team's eight kills in the game.
 
NJCU will conclude the regular season on Wednesday, April 10 at 7 p.m. when it faces The Sage Colleges in a Skyline match in Albany, NY.
  On the other court, Mount Saint Vincent earned its fourth league win of the season, sweeping Yeshiva, 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-17). Mount had a 2-to-1 advantage in kills over Yeshiva, 40-20.
 
For Mount (7-20, 4-9 Skyline), junior middle hitter Gerard Fraser (Staten Island, NY) slammed 15 kills and hit .286 (15-7-28) with three b locks while sophomore middle Brett Holiday (Stratford, NJ/Sterling) chipped in 13 kills on a .370 attack rate (13-3-27), adding seven digs and three blocks.  Sophomore setter James DiGiovanni (Bay Shore, NY) dished 34 assists and junior libero Timothy Kolodny (Woodland Hills, CA) collected 15 digs.
 
For Yeshiva (10-18, 0-13 Skyline), freshman setter Jorge Dabah (Miami, FL) had 17 assists and senior outside hitter Jared Rechnitz (Los Angeles, CA) contributed six kills, a .235 percentage (6-2-17), 10 digs and two aces. Junior defensive specialist Aaron Begin (Los Angeles, CA) provided 11 digs and junior middle blocker Menachem Goldstein (Chicago, IL) finished with 10 digs and two blocks.