Men's Volleyball | January 31, 2016

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 | Box Score 4 #GothicKnightInsights Interview with Robert Cole

JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) |  New Jersey City University opened its 27th season of men's volleyball on January 31 by sweeping three matches from Yeshiva University, York College (NY) and Brooklyn College in a quad on its home court at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center. NJCU captured each win in under an hour.
 
NJCU (3-0, 1-0 Skyline) hit .510 as a team and landed 23 service aces in a three-set sweep of Yeshiva University (25-6, 25-8, 25-11) to improve to 30-0 all-time versus the Maccabees in the 2016 season and Skyline Conference opener for both schools.
 
In its second match, NJCU cruised past York College (NY), 3-0 (25-13, 25-15, 25-16), hitting .480 as a team. NJCU capped its undefeated opening weekend with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-12, 25-15) victory over Brooklyn College, as the Knights hit .370 and rejected 9.5 blocks.
 
In nine sets over the three matches NJCU combined for 45 aces and hit a collective .442 as a team with 102 kills (102-26-172).
 
Sophomore middle hitter Jalen Sorrell (Edison, NJ/John P. Stevens) hit .586 on the day with 29 kills and senior outside hitter Sheldon Coure (Redondo Beach, CA/Redondo Union) produced 24 kills with a .543 attack rate and a 1.000 service reception. Senior outside Daque Wilcox (Fredericksburg, VA/Camden County Tech, NJ) and senior right side/setter Kendall Tribbett (Swedesboro, NJ/Kingsway Regional) each unleashed 11 aces on the day in eight sets apiece; Wilcox also boasted 18 kills with a .361 attack.
 
Freshman setter Erick Nascimento (Miami, FL/Alonzo Tracy Mourning) averaged 7.38 assists and dished 59 assists and 11 kills in eight sets. Freshman middle hitter Marquise Sanon (Newark, NJ/Shiloh (Snellville, GA)) averaged 1.17 blocks per set in six games.
 
In neutral-court non-conference contests, Brooklyn defeated Yeshiva 3-0 (25-13, 25-12, 25-11) and York downed Yeshiva, 3-0 (25-10, 25-8, 25-14). Yeshiva is 0-3 after losing all three matches on the day. York is 1-2 and Brooklyn dropped to 1-5.
 
In the Brooklyn-Yeshiva match, BC's Vaughn Titus had nine kills and hit .333 while Ian Miranda served seven of his team's 20 aces. Rudy Zhao chipped in eight kills, seven digs and four aces in the decision. In the final neutral-court tilt, Anson Webb led York with 10 kills, hitting .368 (10-3-19). The Cardinals collected 16 service aces, led by Jonathan Liao with five and seven digs. Adil Manji had 10 assists and four aces for York.

 

MATCH 1: New Jersey City University 3, Yeshiva University 0 (25-6, 25-8, 25-11)
NJCU uncorked 23 service aces and slammed 33 kills in 49 attempts in a 50-minute victory. Three different Gothic Knights registered at least five aces and six had at least one.
 
Coure hit .700 with eight kills (8-1-10) while Wilcox landed six aces while hitting .600 with four kills (4-1-5) in just two sets of action. Tribbett notched 10 assists and seven aces in two sets.
 
Also for NJCU, Nascimento delivered 13 assists in 17 attempts for a .765 percentage in his NCAA debut.  Sorrell hit .500 with six kills (6-2-8) and a solo block and senior middle Ivan Prensa (Jersey City, NJ/Dickinson) came off the bench to land five aces and four kills in two sets. Senior middle Raymel Castro (Newark, NJ/Barringer) finished with six kills in 10 swings (.400).
 
Yeshiva committed twice as many attack errors (10) as kills (5) and was held to a -.172 attack percentage. Max Glaser and Itai Guttman had two kills apiece.
 
NJCU led from start to finish and hit .556 in the opening set (6-1-9) and tallied an 83 percent sideout percentage. NJCU jumped out to a 10-1 lead and 22-3 advantage.
 
The Knights punished Yeshiva in set two, hitting .714 with 12 kills (12-2-14) and had a 77 percent sideout rate. NJCU scored 11 consecutive points to gain an early 13-2 lead. The third set was a 15-kill performance for the Knights. NJCU (15-5-26) hit .385 in the game and held an 81 percent sideout ratio. Leading 19-11, the Knights scored the final six points to ice it.
 
MATCH 2: New Jersey City University 3, York College (NY) 0 ((25-13, 25-15, 25-16)
Coure blasted nine kills and hit .667 and NJCU posted a .480 attack percentage while flooring 32 kills and 14 service aces. The Knights trailed for just one point in the entire match. Five NJCU players had at least two aces.
 
Coure put away nine kills in 12 attempts (9-1-12) and served two aces while Sorrell hit .857 with six kills in seven swings (no errors) with two aces. Wilcox added six kills in 10 attempts for a .500 percentage (one error) and uncorked four aces.
 
Nascimento dished 21 assists in 32 attempts for a .656 rate and his four aces equaled Wilcox for a match high. Tribbett finished with four kills, two aces and two blocks. Sanon made his debut after sitting out the opening match and finished with four kills and three blocks (one solo).
 
York's top player was Akeem George with five kills in eight attempts for a .625 attack rate. John Lingad tallied 11 assists. The Cardinals attack line was .000 with 13 kills (13-13-43).
 
NJCU pummeled the ball in game one, hitting .688 as a team with 12 winners (12-1-16) while siding out at a near-perfect 92 percent. NJCU opened a 6-2 lead behind back-to-back kills by Coure and two Sanon blocks. NJCU extended its lead to 14-7 and 18-9 before scoring five of the final six points.
 
In set two the Knights put away 11 balls and hit .562 (11-2-16) with an 80 percent sideout rate. With a slim 5-4 lead, NJCU scored the next six points, including a kill and ace from Tribbett for a 10-4 advantage. A kill and ace by Wilcox made it 15-9 and a solo stuff from Sanon pushed it to 19-11 before winning the game by 10 points.
 
NJCU led wire-to-wire in game three when it saw nine more kills. NJCU led 5-0 after Nascimento unleashed four consecutive aces. The Knights tacked on seven consecutive points—highlighted by two aces from Sorrell, back-to-back winners from Tribbett and a Sanon slam, to seize a 14-2 differential and never looked back.
 
MATCH 3: New Jersey City University 3, Brooklyn College 0 (25-17, 25-12, 25-15)
Nascimento dished 25 assists (.417 rate, 60 attempts) and put away six kills in eight dumps for a .750 success prowess as NJCU remained unbeaten all-time against Brooklyn.
 
Sorrell slammed eight kills in 14 tries and hit .500 (one error) with four blocks (one solo) and Wilcox put away eight winners with five digs. Coure added seven kills and hit .308 (7-3-13) with three blocks. Sanon (four blocks, one solo) and Tribbett (three blocks) also helped close the net off. Freshman libero David Penaherrera (Harrison, NJ/Harrison) defended eight digs.
 
NJCU hit .370 in the match (37-10-73) while its blocking game forced the Bulldogs into 25 attack errors and a -.108 percentage (16-25-83). Zhao had seven digs, five kills and two aces for BC.
 
NJCU mastered 15 kills in game one when it hit .448 (15-2-29). NJCU actually trailed 6-4 before scoring five straight points to move in front, 9-6. The Knights would up the advantage to 15-9 on a triple block by Wilcox, Sorrell and Tribbett. BC would later draw within two (16-14) before NJCU pushed the margin to 21-15 on a combo block by Sanon and Tribbett, a Wilcox kill, Tribbett ace and a shot by Coure. The Knights cruised from there.
 
In game two the Knights collected 12 kills (12-4-24, .333) and NJCU sided out at a 75.0 success rate. NJCU spread the offense in game two and four straight kills in the middle of the set by Coure, Sorrell, Nascimento and Wilcox gave the hosts a 12-5 cushion that would expand to 16-7 before an easy 25-12 decision.
 
The third game saw 10 more kills and a .300 rate (10-4-20). BC hung around before NJCU, leading 17-13, sealed the match by scoring eight of the final 10 points.
 

#KnightNotes

• NJCU leads all-time series with Yeshiva, 30-0, all via sweeps.
• NJCU's 23 service aces against Yeshiva were the most in a three-set match or a match of any length since the Knights produced 25 aces against Medgar Evers on February 1, 2009. It was the fourth most aces in a match in school history.
• NJCU leads all-time series all-time series with York, 19-6, and has won 16 of the last 17 meetings. It was the first meeting between the schools since March 9, 2013.
• NJCU leads the all-time series with Brooklyn, 23-0.

 
What's Next?
On Tuesday, February 2 at 7 p.m., the Knights will host Rutgers University-Newark, members of the Continental Volleyball Conference, in a non-conference match. The Scarlet Raiders (7-0) are currently ranked No. 5 in the January 25 AVCA Division III Top 15 national poll and will likely climb after knocking off No. 3 Nazareth in one of three notable wins this weekend. RUN also has a win this year over then No. 2 ranked and defending national champion Stevens. Rutgers-Newark, which was a Division I program until 2014, leads the all-time series, 3-0. The Raiders won the last meeting on January 31, 2015 in Newark, 3-0 (25-11, 25-19, 25-9) in RUN's first year as a full, non-transitioning Division III men's volleyball program.