JERSEY CITY, N.J. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | The New Jersey City University men's volleyball team played its first home match of the 2015 campaign and impressed the crowd with a .281 attack percentage and a 39-17 differential in kills as the Gothic Knights posted a decisive 3-0 (25-14, 25-20, 25-16) win over Lancaster Bible College in non-conference action at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center on February 3.
 
NJCU (2-1) hit .444 in the opening set and never trailed in the first or third games while sending the Chargers (1-6) to their third straight loss.
 
Rookie setter John Leon (Guatemala City, Guatemala/Colegio Interamericano de Guatemala) quarterbacked the offense to 22 assists in two sets at a .393 setting percentage, adding a pair of kills in three dump plays (.667). Junior outside hitter Daque Wilcox (Camden, NJ/Camden County Tech), in his first significant action of the season, had a match-high nine kills and hit .217 (9-4-23).
 
Sophomore middle hitter Sheldon Coure (Redondo Beach, CA/Redondo Union) hit .308 with six kills (6-2-13) and junior libero Nick Poh (Richmond, VA/Varina) defended 13 digs.
 
Senior outside Bill Le (Jersey City, NJ/Snyder) had five kills, five digs and two aces and junior opposite Kendall Tribbett (Swedesboro, NJ/Kingsway Regional) hit .429 in seven swings, landing four kills.
 
The Chargers received nearly half of their offense from sophomore outside TJ Forsythe (Macungie, PA) with eight kills (8-4-240, adding three aces. Freshman libero Justin Stoltzfus (Morgantown, PA) defended 10 digs. Senior setter Paul Fulbright (Elverson, PA) chipped in 16 assists.
 
NJCU hit a stellar .444 in the opening period with 15 kills (15-3-27) as Leon set at a .538 percentage and freshman middle hitter Andre Ghant (Newark, NJ/North 13th Street Tech), who split time at middle in the match, led a proficient attack with a .571 percentage and four kills without an error (4-0-7). Five different Knights had multiple kills in the set.
 The Knights dominated the first set and began pulling away midway through the game. NJCU forced LBC into its second timeout after a long rally ended with a crushing blow from Wilcox for an 18-9 lead that highlighted five straight Gothic Knight points. Earlier, leading 11-7, NJCU scored three straight with a kill and ace by Le contributing. NJCU scored the final four points of the set to win by 11 (25-14).
 
There were 12 ties and eight lead changes in game two. Tied at 13-13, NJCU committed three straight attack errors to give LBC the advantage, 16-13, and the Chargers pushed the margin to 18-14. But the Knights responded with a 7-0 run to gain a 21-18 lead with a kill by Wilcox and an ace by junior Raymel Castro (Newark, NJ/Barringer) knotting it at 18-18 before

Wilcox crushed a kill for a 20-18 edge and Coure spiked a ball down the middle to make it 21-18. LBC scored the next two before Leon put away a second attempt (22-20). Leading 23-20, back-to-back aces by senior Angel Martinez (Pleasantville, NJ/Pleasantville) cemented the 25-20 outcome.
 
All 16 men on the roster played in the match with much of the reserve squad seeing ample time in a third set where NJCU hit .321 with 11 putaways (11-2-28). Wilcox and Poh both had three kills without an error in the game. The Knights opened a healthy 7-2 lead, expanded it to 12-4 and 20-11 before cruising to a 25-16 decision to sweep the contest.
 
QUOTES:
NJCU head coach Robert Cole (second season)
 
On the outcome: "I was really happy with the effort tonight. We were able to accomplish the things we set out to do today. Our team defense was great. We ran our tempo and made smart decisions with the ball. I'm looking forward to a great practice tomorrow and another opportunity Thursday."
 
OF NOTE:

• Series: NJCU leads, 7-2.
• Closing in on the 400th win in school history, NJCU improves to 398-342 in 740 all-time matches.
• NJCU owns a .903 serving percentage nine sets into the season.
• All three matches have ended in 3-0 results this year.

 
WHAT'S NEXT?
On Thursday, February 5, NJCU will head across the Bayonne Bridge for the first-ever meeting with the College of Staten Island in men's volleyball, which is sponsoring a program for the first time in 2015.