JERSEY CITY, N.J. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) |The New Jersey City University men's volleyball team (0-1) debuted at home on Tuesday, January 21 at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center and showed plenty of life in what was eventually a 3-1 win (25-20, 23-25, 25-18, 25-18) for the Kean University Cougars (1-3) in front of a lively NJCU crowd.
 
The Knights got contributions from several key returners, as well as some fresh faces.
 
Junior co-captain, Jonathan Andrews (North Bergen, NJ/North Bergen), tallied a team-high 13 kills; fellow junior co-captain Alexander Umanzor (West New York, NJ/Memorial) had 27 assists and five digs; freshman opposite, James Bajor (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne), had seven kills, five digs and two blocks; fellow freshman Brandon DaSilva (Kearny, NJ/Kearny) had four kills and made his presence felt at the net with a team-leading six blocks.
 
The Knights got out to an early lead in the first set, going up 7-4 before five unanswered from Kean gave them a mid-set lead. The Cougars held that edge until the Knights tied things up at 15-15 and 16-16 in the middle of the set, but a couple of NJCU errors down the stretch let Kean escape the first set, 25-20.
 
In the second, the Knights were clicking, as they hit .333 for the set with 16 kills compared to just nine for Kean. The two teams started by trading side outs, but by the middle of the set, the Knights had built a slight 12-11 lead. That's when Andrews took over, collecting four straight kills as part of a 7-0 run for the Knights that put them ahead 19-11 and sent the crowd into a frenzy. 
 
NJCU held the margin right around that point until set point, when they led 24-17. Kean made things a little scary for the home crowd, however, rattling off six straight points before a Jeffry Rodriguez (Elizabeth, NJ/John E. Dwyer Technology AcademyElizabeth, N.J. (John E. Dwyer Technology Academy) kill gave the Knights the second set, 25-23.
 
In the third set, things started off looking strong for NJCU, as they took four of the first six points and were tied 12-12 midway through, but Kean once again took advantage of some timely NJCU miscues and were able to hold the Knights at arm's length down the stretch for the 25-18 third set win.
 
The Knights looked to force a tiebreaker set with a strong start in the fourth, but the story was much the same as the third, with Kean getting out to a five-to-six point lead in the middle stages of the set and holding off any NJCU rallies that would have come, en route to another 25-18 set win, giving the Cougars their first win of the 2020 season.
 
For Kean, Jared Ray (Phoenixville, Pa.) and Seth Russell (Wexford, Pa.) tallied 16 and 13 kills, respectively, while Zach Gerken (Buffalo, N.Y) was the metronome in the middle with 32 assists and three aces. The team as a whole had 13 blocks, and their nine aces more than doubled NJCU's four.
 
NOTABLES:

• Series: Kean has now won all 18 meetings between the two sides.

 UP NEXT:

• The Knights host another early-season out-of-conference match, this time taking on Cairn University (0-1) of the CSAC at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center on Tuesday, January, 28 at 7:00 p.m.

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