UNION N.J. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University put up a first-set fight before falling to host Kean University in the opening match, but bounced back for a sweep of York College (NY) as the Gothic Knight men's volleyball team played a mid-week non-conference tri-match at Harwood Arena on March 29.
 
NJCU (10-13) went the distance in game one before falling to the five-time defending Skyline Conference champion Cougars, 25-23, 25-11, 25-17, in the first of two meetings this year. The Gothic Knights countered against York by set scores of 25-13, 25-20, 25-22.
 
With the match two victory, NJCU reached double figures in victories for the 26th consecutive season.

Match 1: Kean 3, New Jersey City 0 (25-23, 25-11, 25-17)
In the opener, Kean (17-8) had a 46-18 margin in kills and hit .364 as a team in the sweep. There were an incredible 21 ties and eight lead changes in the opening set against the Cougar starters before Kean pulled away in games two and three.
 
Sophomore middle blocker Kamil Garbowski (Clifton, N.J./Clifton) led Kean with 10 kills and a .643 attack percentage (10-1-14) while freshman outside hitter Jacob Milnazik (Warminster, Pa.) hit .353 with nine kills (9-3-17), three aces and three blocks. They were two of only four players to see action in all three sets. Freshman setter Ian Capp (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) added 29 assists and five kills. Freshman outside Steven Zarzycki (Rochester, N.Y.) hit .556 with six kills in two sets (6-1-9).
 
In defeat, freshman right side Julian Moreira (Miami, Fla./Alonzo and Tracy Mourning Biscayne Bay Campus) hit .267 and led NJCU with seven kills (7-3-15). Freshman outside J.J. Berdecia (West New York, N.J./Memorial) had eight digs while freshman setter Jimmy Vega (Harrison, N.J./Harrison) collected 16 assists and two blocks.
 
Kean served at a 78 percent sideout rate in the match (43-55), including 92 percent (12-13) in game two when the Cougars hit .516 as a team with 18 kills (18-2-31). NJCU's sideout percentage was 17-of-24 in game one (70%) when it hit .333 as a team (11-3-24). The Knights only tallied seven kills in the final two sets, combined.
 
The opening set was a seesaw battle from the opening serve as the clubs traded leads and possession. Kean led 22-21, before NJCU scored the next two, including a solo block by freshman middle hitter Jonathan Andrews (Palisades Park, N.J./North Bergen), to claim a 23-22 lead. But a kill by Garbowski, an NJCU attack error and a kill by junior outside Jacob Kauffman (York, Pa.) clinched the game one win.
 
Kean seized an early 11-4 lead in game two and scored six of the final seven points. In the third set, the hosts grabbed a 6-1 lead. NJCU drew within 14-11, 16-12 and 18-14, before five straight points, including two kills by Garbowski and a kill and block by Milnazik, allowed the Cougars to prevail in three.
 
Match 2: New Jersey City 3, York (NY) 0 (25-13, 25-20, 25-22)
In the nightcap, Berdecia had a career-high 10 kills and NJCU defeated a scrappy York squad in three sets. NJCU unleashed nine service aces and owned a .979 team serve reception percentage in the win.
 
Berdecia posted a line of 10-6-25 while freshman middle Christian Ramirez (West New York, N.J./Memorial) added eight kills and hit .312 (8-3-16). Vega delivered 27 assists.
 
Also for NJCU, freshman outside Edgar Crespo (Newark, N.J./Science Park) added seven kills at a .385 attack percentage (7-2-13) and finished with a team-high six digs. Moreira had six kills and two blocks.
 

York (4-21, Lost 8) had 25 kills but committed 22 attack errors and was limited to a .044 hitting rate. Senior Paramvir Singh (Queens, N.Y.) had 10 digs to help keep the Cardinals competitive.
 
NJCU hit .429 in game one with 11 kills (11-2-21) and an 84 percent sideout percentage. NJCU added 11 kills in game two (.231); the second set was the only one York hit in positive territory, landing 12 winners (.208).
 
The Knights built two substantial runs in game one, a 7-0 outburst followed by an 8-0 streak to pull away. The Knights claimed early leads of 6-1 and 13-4 in game two; the Cardinals were able to whittle the deficit to 20-18 later in the game before a pair of kills by Crespo and multiple York errors sealed it.
 
York led 10-6 early in the third set after NJCU committed five errors in a row but NJCU countered with a 6-0 run and moved back on top, 16-13. When York trimmed the third set margin to one (19-18), NJCU responded with the next four points, highlighted by a Ramirez/Vega rejection, an ace by Crespo and a kill by Berdecia. Up 24-19, the Cardinals staved off three match points before Berdecia finally sealed it with his 10th kill.
 
OF NOTE:

• Series vs. Kean: Kean leads, 14-0.
• Series vs. York: 27th meeting. NJCU leads, 21-6, and has won 18 of the last 19 meetings.
• J.J. Berdecia's 10 kills were three more than his previous high of seven, accomplished twice—each time in four sets.

 
WHAT'S NEXT?
NJCU (2-2) is still alive for the Skyline Conference Tournament and with the top six in the league standings reaching the postseason, the Knights play in their final home matches on Saturday, April 1 will likely determine if they will qualify for a sixth straight Skyline Tournaments. In a Skyline tri-match at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center ('Coach Charlie Brown Court'), NJCU hosts Sarah Lawrence College and The Sage Colleges. NJCU meets Sarah Lawrence (0-15, 0-5 Skyline, Lost 83) at 11 a.m. and Sage (12-12, 2-2 Skyline) at 3 p.m., with those two schools playing a neutral-court conference match at 1 p.m. NJCU is 5-0 all-time against Sarah Lawrence—most recently a 3-0 non-conference win on February 25 in Bronxville, N.Y. (25-15, 25-5, 25-12).  Sage leads the all-time series with NJCU, 7-5, including a 3-1 neutral court win on February 4 (25-15, 25-27, 25-13, 25-13) in Weston, Mass.