PATCHOGUE, L.I. — The New Jersey City University men's volleyball team, seeded second in the 2021 Skyline Conference Tournament, started Saturday, April 10, in need of two consecutive victories in order to accomplish what had never been done before in program history — win a conference title of any kind, and earn an invite to the NCAA Division III Championship tournament. The Gothic Knights did just that, defeating #3 Sarah Lawrence College in straight sets (25-18, 25-13, 25-19) in the semifinal round and then toppling top-seeded St. Joseph's College-L.I. in a dramatic five-set thriller (20-25, 26-24, 25-22, 23-25, 18-16) on the Golden Eagles' home court.
Just named New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Coach of the Year yesterday, Friday, April 9, head coach
Carlo Edra guided his squad to the program's first Skyline Championship and the subsequent automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship, which takes place in Salem, Va., from April 21-24.
NJCU 3, Sarah Lawrence 0
As a team, the Gothic Knights (7-3, 5-1 Skyline) were pretty efficient swinging against the Gryphons (0-7, 0-6 Skyline) and hit .325 overall, while shutting down Sarah Lawrence to the tune of -.038 hitting percentage. Freshman
Mahmoud Serour (Kearny, N.J./Kearny) led NJCU with a career-high 10 kills on 21 swings with just three errors (.333) to go with six digs. Another freshman, middle blocker
Christopher Castillo (North Bergen, N.J./High Tech) notched nine kills and nine digs. Senior setter
Alexander Umanzor (West New York, N.J./Memorial) dished out a match-best 33 assists and added seven digs, three total blocks and a pair of aces.
NJCU 3, St. Joe's-L.I. 2
After defeating Sarah Lawrence in the semifinal to earn a spot in the championship match, the pressure was on NJCU to defeat the Golden Eagles (7-1, 7-0 Skyline) for the first time ever, especially since St. Joe's had defeated the Gothic Knights 3-0 (25-11, 25-20, 25-20) earlier this season. However, with the return of senior
Jonathan Andrews (North Bergen, N.J./North Bergen) — who had missed most of the season due to injury — NJCU was able to get over the hump in an astounding back-and-forth affair before taking the title in five sets.
The majority of the first set was even, with neither team pulling ahead until the final five points. NJCU had just made it a one-point game at 21-20 thanks to an Andrews' kill, but the Golden Eagles won the next four points to take it 25-20. The second set started out poorly for the Gothic Knights, and it looked as though it would be a repeat of the 3-0 loss earlier in the season with St. Joe's up 9-1 early. Trailing by eight once again at 17-9, NJCU finally broke out a run of its own to the tune of 7-0 to make it 17-16. Sophomore middle blocker
Brandon DaSilva (Kearny, N.J./Kearny) was a huge part of that run, notching two kills and three total blocks. The two squads were eventually knotted up at 24-24, with one team needing to take the lead by two points to claim the set, and DaSilva struck again for the Gothic Knights by nailing back-to-back kills to take the set — the first team All-NJAC selection finished with a career-high 11 kills and a career-best-tying eight total blocks.
Set number three was even halfway through before the Golden Eagles took control and a three-point lead following a 6-0 run to make it 19-16. However, NJCU fired right back with a 7-1 run of its own to once again regain momentum and take a 23-20 advantage. Sophomore
Hanel Collado (North Bergen, N.J./North Bergen) (two kills) and junior
Leo Ferrari (Kearny, N.J./Kearny) (two aces) combined for four of those points. Needing just two more to seal the set, the Gothic Knights eventually did so to take it 25-23 and at the time, a 2-1 match lead. The fourth set was once again back-and-forth rally after rally, with neither team pulling away. Despite the hyper competitiveness of NJCU, St. Joe's was able to gain the slight edge and take the two-point set win, 25-23.
Now, all tied up at two sets all, the Skyline crown would come down to a winner-take-all fifth set, first to 15 points, win by two. The Golden Eagles took the early 5-2 lead, but the Gothic Knights answered right back with a 6-1 run to make it an 8-6 game. Then. after St. Joe's called a timeout to regroup, the home team used a mini 4-1 run to take a slim 10-9 lead. With neither able to pull away, they ended up being tied at 16-16. Finally, NJCU broke through. Andrews made it 17-16 with his 26th kill on the day followed by a Skyline Championship-clinching ace from sophomore
James Bajor (Bayonne, N.J./Bayonne).
Highlights vs. St. Joe's
- Collado finished with a career-high 12 kills to go with two digs and two total blocks.
- Bajor finished with a career-best 11 kills and a career-high-tying eight digs.
- Ferrari dished out a career-high-smashing 60 assists and notched a season-high 12 digs for his third-career double-double.
- Sophomore libero
Richard Valentin (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway) led all players with a career-high 16 digs.
What's Next
As mentioned, NJCU will now compete in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history from April 21-24. The official selection of the Men's Division III Volleyball Bracket will be broadcast live at 10:00 a.m on Monday, April 12, on NCAA.com
here.
