JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University made quick work of Sarah Lawrence College in an opening 3-0 sweep (25-7, 25-11, 25-7) and forced The Sage Colleges to a fifth set before falling 3-2, in a Skyline Conference tri-match hosted by NJCU on March 19 at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (Coach Charlie Brown Court).
 
With the win over Sarah Lawrence, NJCU clinched its fifth consecutive berth in the Skyline Conference Tournament. However in the second match, tied 11-11 in the final set, Sage (11-15, 8-4 Skyline) scored four of the five points to prevail, 3-2 (19-25, 25-20, 25-20, 23-25, 15-12) to claim a key one-game lead over NJCU (16-15, 7-5 Skyline) in the league standings with four matches left.
 
The Gothic Knights are fifth in the league standings; the top six teams qualify for this year's league tournament with the top two receiving a first round bye.
 
In defeat in the loss to Sage, senior outside hitter Sheldon Coure (Redondo Beach, CA/Redondo Union) recorded 20 kills in a match for the third time in his career.
 
In a neutral court match, Sage handled Sarah Lawrence, 3-0 (25-12, 25-12, 25-13). The Gryphons fall to 0-14 (0-10 Skyline).
 
MATCH 1: New Jersey City University 3, Sarah Lawrence College 0 (25-7, 25-11, 25-7)
In a match that lasted just 43 minutes, NJCU's service and attack was just too strong for the Gryphons, a team mired in a long losing streak. NJCU led wire-to-wire in the first two games and never trailed in the match. The Gothic Knights uncorked 22 aces with a staggering 32-4 differential in kills in the match. NJCU hit .407 overall (32-10-54). SLC was limited to the four total kills and a -.250 attack with 15 errors. NJCU sided out at an 84 percent rate in the match (22-of-26).
 
Seven players had at least two aces for NJCU. Senior outside hitter Daque Wilcox (Fredericksburg, VA/Camden County Tech, NJ) hit .500 with eight kills (8-1-14) and two aces in three sets while senior outside hitter Sheldon Coure (Redondo Beach, CA/Redondo Union) unleashed five aces with four kills, hitting .500 (4-1-6) in two sets of action.
 
Freshman setter Erick Nascimento (Miami, FL/Alonzo Tracy Mourning) handed out 15 assists in 28 chances (.536) in two sets while landing four aces. Senior right side/setter Kendall Tribbett (Swedesboro, NJ/Kingsway Regional) played three sets—the final one at setter—and owned a .714 setting percentage with 10 assists in 14 ties. He also stuffed four blocks (two solo) and landed a pair of aces.
 
Also for NJCU, freshman middle hitter Marquise Sanon (Newark, NJ/Shiloh (Snellville, GA)) hit .625 with six kills in eight swings (one error) in two sets and had two blocks (one solo). Senior middle hitter Ivan Prensa (Jersey City, NJ/Dickinson) had five kills in six swings in two sets, hitting .833 with two aces.
 
How It Happened vs. Sarah Lawrence:
In the opening set, NJCU served 10 aces and hit .375 (9-3-16) while SLC had two kills in 15 chances (-.267). Four players had two or more aces in the game as NJCU hit .375 (9-3-16). NJCU opened a 14-2 lead behind Prensa who had three kills and two aces. Two aces by freshman defensive specialist Eduardo Vargas (Jersey City, NJ/Ferris) pushed it to 20-4. Coure served three consecutive aces to get to 24-7 before Wilcox slammed an over ball.
 
In game two, NJCU had a perfect 100 percent sideout rate (12-for-12) and hit .391 with 13 kills (13-4-23) while adding five aces. Three aces by Nascimento made it 6-0. It was 9-2 when Sanon put down an over ball and he repeated that on a free ball for an 11-2 edge. A Tribbett ace into the back corner made it 13-3 and NJCU cruised from there, eventually reaching set point after freshman libero David Penaherrera (Harrison, NJ/Harrison), who saw extensive time as an offensive player, had a kill and a back line ace.
 
In game three, NJCU powered past SLC with a .467 attack and a 10-1 margin in kills when the Gryphons hit -.333. Tied 2-2, the Knights scored 10 of the next 11 points to claim a 12-3 lead after a Tribbett stuff of a joust and two aces by senior libero Raymel Castro (Newark, NJ/Barringer). A smash by Coure made it 14-3, Sanon put away a free ball for a 17-5 edge and Coure served back-to-back aces (19-5) before Wilcox killed an over ball (20-5). A Coure kill from the back row (22-5) gave NJCU its seventh consecutive point. Sanon trickled an ace off the tape (24-6) before sophomore middle hitter Jalen Sorrell (Edison, NJ/John P. Stevens) destroyed an attack on match point No. 2.
 

MATCH 2: The Sage Colleges 3, Sarah Lawrence College 0 (25-12, 25-12, 25-13) | Box Score
In a neutral court Skyline match, the Gators needed 44 minutes to sweep the Gryphons. Sage hit .300 overall with a 3:1 ratio in kills (36-12). Sage had a line of 36-12-80 on attack and served 10 aces. Sophomore outside Bailey Cecchi (Agawam, MA) led Sage with 12 kills and a .588 attack percentage (12-2-17) while junior setter Anthony Gerace (East Greenbush, NY) finished with 28 assists (.444 percentage, 63 attempts). Freshman middle Zachary Karl (Central Square, NY) finished with a .500 attack and six kills (6-1-10). Sophomore libero Melvin Tejada (Springfield, MA) contributed nine digs. Sage had a 73 percent sideout rate in the match (28-38). SLC's top player was freshman outside Callan Moor (Los Angeles, CA) with five kills and six digs. Sage never trailed in the first or third sets when it led wire to wire.
 
MATCH 3: The Sage Colleges 3, New Jersey City University 2 (19-25, 25-20, 25-20, 23-25, 15-12)
NJCU, seeking redemption from a three set neutral loss to Sage on February 21 that was decided by a combined seven points, played a high-powered match with the Gators.
 
Coure was one of three Gothic Knights with double figures in kills as he chalked up 20 with a .424 attack percentage (20-6-33). Prensa hit .333 with 14 kills (14-4-30) and four blocks and Wilcox added 13 kills with six digs and two blocks.
 
Penaherrera had another huge effort defensively with 17 digs and Nascimento had 55 assists in 110 sets for a .500 percentage. Sorrell also hit .500 with seven kills (7-1-12) and three blocks (two solo) with Tribbett collecting four blocks.
 
Two players carried the load for Sage as Cecchi matched Coure for the high with 20 kills, hitting .417 (20-5-36) with three blocks. Sophomore opposite Ryan Guyton (Lockport, NY) had key contributions with 19 kills, hitting .361 (19-6-36), with two blocks and two digs.
 
Sophomore setter Robert Fitzpatrick (Haverhill, MA) tallied 45 assists and 14 digs and junior outside Chris MacArthur (Hillsdale, NY) finished with seven kills (.250, 7-2-20). Tejada provided 11 digs.
 
NJCU held a 60-52 margin in kills and 76.0 to 63.0 in points. But NJCU had five more attack errors (26-21) and nine more service errors (22-13).
 
How It Happened vs. Sage:
 
NJCU hit .348 in game one with 12 kills (12-4-23) as Coure (.500, 3-1-4), Prensa (.600, 3-0-5) and Wilcox had three kills apiece and Nascimento had two winning dumps. NJCU led 10-7 after a great one-ball kill by Prensa but Sage rallied to tie it 10-10. NJCU's errors helped Sage scored five in a row to take a 12-10 lead before a Wilcox kill in the corner ended the run. Prensa and Sorrell destroyed balls in the middle to keep NJCU within one. Nascimento tied it with a dump. An ace by Tribbett and a Sage attack error followed by an opposite side cross court winner by Coure made it 17-14. Sage won the next two points (17-16). But after a sideout, Coure served an ace (19-16) and Nascimento earned a kill (20-17) that Sage couldn't chase down. Coure smashed a ball from the back (21-18) and Wilcox poked a kill to the line. After a great dig by Nascimento inside the 10-foot line, Prensa put away a kill at the end of the of the rally (23-19). Tribbett had a solo stuff on the outside hitter for set point before NJCU prevailed.   
 
The Gators answered in set two, hitting .500 with 15 kills (15-3-24) and three blocks while NJCU's attack dipped to .062. Sage used three consecutive blocks early in set two to garner a 9-3 lead with Laverty involved in all three blocks and two by Cecchi. NJCU began to recover from the slowed attack. An ace by Tribbett (10-6) and a Prensa putaway (13-9) before those two combined for a block (13-10). But after a kill by Guyton, Fitzpatrick had a kill on two (15-10) and Cecchi had a winner (16-10). Coure and Sorrell jacked back-to-back kills to get NJCU closer (17-13) and Coure followed with a cross court winner (17-14). After NJCU missed an opportunity to score on a free ball, Coure had a kill but Cecchi followed on a great set outside (19-15). He added another to push the lead to five (20-15) and Sage prevailed by that five-point margin
 

In set three, Sage jumped out to a 5-0 lead before Wilcox landed a kill and ace and a great dig by Prensa led to a Coure winner. Coure had another kill on a tip (6-4). Sorrell had a solo block on a joust before Cecchi answered for Sage. Sage continued to clutch a one-point lead after back-and-forth action before two errors allowed Sage to regain a 14-11 edge. A tip by Cecchi made it 15-11. MacArthur followed with a kill and line shot ace to push the lead to 17-12 and force an NJCU timeout. Sorrell ended the run with a smash in the middle and Wilcox put away a ball (17-14). But Sage maintained the lead. A kill by Cecchi made it 21-16. The Gators pushed the lead to 24-17. NJCU got within 24-20 before a Cecchi kill gave Sage a 2-1 lead.
 
In the fourth, kills by Prensa and Wilcox and a solo stuff by Wilcox made it 3-0. Two kills by Coure helped push it to 7-3. Another Wilcox smash (9-5) and a Coure rocket from the backrow (11-5) forced Sage into a timeout. Wilcox tucked a wicked cross court shot inside the line (12-7). Sage rallied and a solo block by Cecchi cut it to 12-10. Coure ended the run with a roll winner. Up 14-11 after a Tribbett kill and 15-12 after Coure stuck a kill through the block, Coure added a sneaky tip for 16-12. Up 18-14, the lead swelled to 20-15 when Wilcox tooled the block and Prensa put away an attack over the defense for a 21-15 edge. The Gators would rally with an 8-1 run capped by five consecutive points to nearly win in four games, as a service error, combo block and attack error cut it to 21-18 before kills by Guyton (22-19) and Cecchi (22-20) made it a two-point game. After an NJCU timeout, back-to-back aces by Guyton tied it at 22-22 and a kill by MacArthur on the right side gave Sage a 23-22 lead. However, Wilcox had a kill off the tape to tie it. Coure smashed a kill off a defender for a 24-23 lead. Wilcox followed with a sensational serve on set point that led to a free ball and Prensa put a kill away to send the match to five sets.
 
In the fifth, Sage hit .409 (11-2-22) and NJCU was similar at .350 (9-2-20) as each team committed just two attack errors. Prensa had back-to-back kills including a straight down tip. The first ball handling error of the match gave Sage a 3-2 lead. Coure tied it with a beauty of a roll shot before Cecchi answered with back-to-back kills for a 5-3 lead. Coure tooled the block (5-4) but a kill by MacArthur on the right side made it 6-4 and Guyton had a hard kill down the middle for a three-point edge. Sorrell found the floor and NJCU cut it to one (7-6) before Cecchi had a kill for an 8-6 lead at the switch. Cecchi served an ace to put the guests up three (9-6). An attack error (9-7) and a Sorrell ace again cut it to one (9-8) before Prensa and Wilcox stuffed Guyton for a block to tie it 9-9. Guyton had a kill off the block to regain the lead (10-9) before Prensa returned the favor. Guyton again had a kill on the outside (11-10) but Prensa countered again with a kill (11-11) to tie it for the sixth time.
 
But Sage got the points when it needed them. Guyton had a kill to reclaim a one-point lead (12-11) and Prensa was called for a carry on the next attack (13-11). Tribbett got NJCU back within one with a kill (13-12) before Cecchi had a crosscourt shot for match point and freshman middle Austin Laverty (Schenectady, NY) tipped a free ball on the next service to the court to win it.
 
#KnightNotes

• Series vs. Sarah Lawrence: NJCU leads, 3-0, winning each via a sweep.
• Series vs. Sage: 11th meeting. Sage leads all-time series, 6-5, sweeping two regular season matches in 2016.
• In the win over Sarah Lawrence, NJCU had 20 or more aces in a match for the second time this season (23 vs. Yeshiva, January 31)
• NJCU's .407 attack percentage vs. Sarah Lawrence was its third highest of the season.
• Sheldon Coure reached double figures in kills for the 27th time in three years and 10th time in 2016. He has 740 career kills.
• Ivan Prensa reached double figures in kills for the third time in his career—all this season.
• Daque Wilcox reached double figures in kills for the 17th time in his career and seventh time this season. He has 748 career kills.
• David Penaherrera reached double figures in digs for the fifth time.

 
#NextKnightTime:
On Wednesday, March 23, NJCU heads to Harwood Arena in Union, NJ to face current No. 12 ranked Kean University at 6 p.m. in a Skyline match. Kean won the first meeting of the season on February 28 in Jersey City, 3-1 (25-21, 25-21, 24-26, 25-18). Kean leads the series, 12-0.