LANGHORNE, PA (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Senior outside hitter Sheldon Coure (Redondo Beach, CA/Redondo Union) and senior middle hitter Ivan Prensa (Jersey City, NJ/Dickinson) each powered double figures in kills and the New Jersey City University men's volleyball team defeated Cairn University for the first time since 2005 with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-22) road non-conference win on March 16.
 
NJCU improves to 15-14 as the Knights hit .210 overall and blocked seven attacks. Cairn, formerly known as Philadelphia Biblical, fell to 4-12.
 
Coure smashed 13 kills and hit .333 (13-4-27) with six digs and two blocks while Prensa put away 10 attacks (10-6-30) and had four blocks (three assisted).
 

Sophomore middle hitter Jalen Sorrell (Edison, NJ/John P. Stevens) continued his blistering attack with a .545 percentage and seven kills in 11 swings (one error). He added three blocks. Freshman libero David Penaherrera (Harrison, NJ/Harrison) was all over the court, defending 18 digs—a school record for a three-set match in the 25-point rally scoring era.    
 
Freshman setter Erick Nascimento (Miami, FL/Alonzo Tracy Mourning) handed out 27 assists and nine digs while dumping four kills in five chances (.600, 4-1-5). Senior right side/setter Kendall Tribbett (Swedesboro, NJ/Kingsway Regional) had nine digs.
 
Cairn's top player was Micah Godshall with 11 kills (.308, 11-3-26), nine digs and two blocks but no other Highlander had more than four kills as Cairn was limited to an .061 attack (26-20-99). Matthew Gump finished with 21 assists, five digs and two aces.
 
How It Happened:
NJCU had a 73 percent sideout rate in game one when it powered home 14 kills. NJCU jumped out to a 6-1 lead behind the serving of senior outside Daque Wilcox (Fredericksburg, VA/Camden County Tech, NJ). Prensa combined for two assisted blocks during the early run. The lead swelled to 8-2 and 15-8. Cairn was able to draw within three (15-12, 16-13) but Sorrell teamed with Coure and Nascimento for consecutive blocks and three late kills by Prensa helped NJCU seal it.
 
NJCU added 12 kills in game two. The Knights grabbed an early lead and held slim margins for much of the game. Cairn shaved the lead to one four times in the later stages of the set—18-17, 20-19, 22-21 and 23-22. But Prensa answered with sideout kills in two of those moments and Sorrell put away an attack for a 24-22 lead as NJCU won by three.
 
A 13-kill, .310-attack punctuated the victory in the third set. The hosts held an early 4-2 lead but NJCU turned it around into a 15-10 advantage. It continued to hold a modest lead and Cairn was down one, 23-22 before back-to-back winners by Coure and Sorrell clinched the sweep.
 
#KnightNotes

• Series vs. Cairn: 16th meeting. Cairn leads, 13-3. NJCU snapped Cairn's seven-match winning streak in the series.
• NJCU defeated Cairn for first time since a 3-1 win in Langhorne, Pa. on March 20, 2005.
• NJCU posted its first-ever sweep in the all-time series The other win was a 3-2 outcome on February 20, 2002 in Langhorne, Pa.
• David Penaherrera reached double figures in digs for the fourth time. His 18 digs were the most by an NJCU player since Jon Diaz had 20 in a five set match

  

  
  at Mount Saint Vincent on March 1, 2014 and the most in a three-set contest during the 25-point rally scoring era (2011-present). Chris Edra had 18 digs in the 30-point format in a three-set match at Ramapo on March 30, 2010.
• Sheldon Coure reached double figures in kills for the 26th time in three years and ninth time in 2016.
• Daque Wilcox (727 kills) is 13th in school history in kills. Sheldon Coure (716 kills) is 14th. Both players need 809 kills to crack the Top 10 list.

 
#NextKnightTime:
NJCU is 6-4 in the Skyline Conference and looks to solidify its conference tournament standing when it hosts a Skyline tri-match on Saturday, March 19. NJCU hosts Sarah Lawrence College at 10 a.m. and The Sage Colleges at 2 p.m. Those two opponents play a neutral court contest at noon. NJCU lost a tight match to Sage on a neutral court on February 21, 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-22) in the first meeting of the season and it will be the 11th meeting in a series even at 5-5. NJCU faces Sarah Lawrence in the first of two meetings this year. NJCU swept both meetings last year vs SLC in the first two matches the schools have met in.