New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 LANGHORNE, PA (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University's men's volleyball team returned to action after 16 days of inactivity but despite being fresh, the Gothic Knights dropped a pair of non-conference matches on February 1 in a tri-match hosted by Cairn University. NJCU lost the opening match to host Cairn, 3-0 (25-19, 32-30, 25-20) before falling in the second contest to Emerson College, also 3-0 (25-13, 25-18, 25-19). The Gothic Knights are 0-4 overall.
  In the first match since the season opener on January 16, NJCU faced Cairn University—formerly known as Philadelphia Biblical University—for the first time since the school changed its name in 2012.
 
Now known as the Highlanders, Cairn (1-1) had a 37-23 advantage in kills with two players reaching double figures. NJCU lost despite 11.0 total blocks as a team as the hosts combined for 15.0 total rejections and held the Knights to a -.093 hitting percentage (23-33-108).
 
Sophomore outside hitter/opposite KENDALL TRIBBETT (Swedesboro, NJ/Kingsway Regional) was NJCU's most productive player, finishing with nine kills and a .217 percentage (9-4-23), adding eight digs and four blocks.
 
Sophomore outside hitter DAQUE WILCOX (Camden, NJ/Camden County Tech) stuffed eight blocks, including two solo and senior setter GARY PRESTON, JR. (North East MD/Rising Sun (MD)) dished 22 assists, adding two blocks.
 
Josiah Buss hit .259 for the Highlanders and finished with a double-double of 14 digs and 13 kills (13-6-27). Ryan Garven tallied a match-high 15 kills but also committed 12 attack errors in 45 attempts (.067). He added seven digs and five blocks.
 
Randall Colson put down eight assisted blocks and Jon Wilson distributed 30 assists, six digs and chalked up five blocks. Jeff Bishop also had five blocks.
 
Cairn never trailed in the first set after jumping out to an 8-1 and 19-11 lead. The second set was more dramatic as the schools traded four ties and four lead changes in a period that went well into extra points—despite the hosts having a 15-7 differential in kills and NJCU hitting -.122 (7-12-41) in the game. NJCU jumped out to the early lead in the set before Cairn countered and eventually led 23-20 and 24-21. NJCU scored four consecutive points—a kill by Wilcox followed by a Cairn error, a combo block by sophomore RAYMEL CASTRO (Newark, NJ/Barringer) and Wilcox and another error by the hosts. But Cairn survived and used its blocking to pull in front before a kill by Garven clinched the game.
 
Cairn led much of the third set before the Knights pulled within one at 20-19 and 21-20. Four consecutive kills from Garven sealed the win for the Highlanders. In the first meeting between the schools, Emerson (3-2) hit .354 as a, smashing 40 kills with only six errors in 96 attempts, and had 11.5 total team blocks in a three-game sweep.
 
Jackson Wiley slammed 15 kills and made just one attack error (27 attempts) in posting a .519 percentage. Dimitri Gorenc hit .467 with eight kills (8-1-15) and four blocks while Connor Burton landed eight kills at a .389 pace (8-1-18). Six different Emerson players had a block. Setter Brendan McGonigle finished with 30 assists and eight digs.
 
NJCU was paced by freshman middle hitter SHELDON COURE (Torrance, CA/Redondo Union (CA)) with nine kills and a .353 percentage (9-3-17). Wilcox had eight kills (8-5-19, .158) and eight digs. Tribbett tallied six kills (6-3-15, .200) and six digs with Preston collecting 26 assists and eight digs.
 
Emerson never trailed in the opening set, opening an early 10-3 lead. The Lions led by three in the second set before pushing the margin to 21-14 and held a narrow yet comfortable lead for much of the third set before finishing off the match with a six-point win. Emerson had 15 kills and hit .583 in set one (15-1-24) and wrapped up the contest with 16 kills at a .359 pace in set three (16-2-39). NJCU managed 13 kills in the second and third sets.
 
NJCU faces the City College of New York on Tuesday, February 4 at 7 p.m. in non-conference action in New York, NY.