SALEM, Va. — The New Jersey City University men's volleyball team capped off its historic 2021 campaign with a tough three-set loss to #11 Wentworth Institute of Technology on Wednesday evening, April 21, in a first round matchup of the 2021 NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship at the Salem Civic Center.

"I couldn't be any prouder of the guys," said head coach Carlo Edra in the post match press conference. "We had half a season last year, and basically another half a season this year. To go from a team that no one really knew about, to playing in the NCAA tournament, I couldn't be more proud of the guys that we got here. I believe this is a stepping stone for us. Our goal is no longer to just win the conference, it's to come back here every year."

The match, as well as the berth to NCAAs, was the first-ever in program history for the Gothic Knights (7-4). NJCU earned its automatic invite to the tournament by winning a five-set thriller of top-seeded St. Joseph's College-L.I. in the Skyline Conference Championship game.
 
The Gothic Knights served as the visiting team for their first round match against the Leopards (8-2) and started off the evening strong in set number one. NJCU stayed with WIT as the two were tied at 9-9 before the Leopards went on a 4-0 run to take a 13-9 lead. However, the Gothic Knights made it a tight one again at 16-14 thanks to some Wentworth service errors and a kill from senior Jonathan Andrews (North Bergen, N.J./North Bergen) — the reigning Skyline Most Tournament Outstanding Player finished with four kills, five digs and a block on the night. Unfortunately, Wentworth controlled the remainder of the set to take it 25-19.

The second set started off pretty evenly as well, with NJCU trailing 12-10 midway through. Once again, however, WIT controlled the pace of play and went on several runs to take the set 25-15 and the overall match lead 2-0. The third and final set saw the Gothic Knights trailing 10-7 early, but a trio of Leopard attacking errors, paired with a monster kill from sophomore middle blocker Martin Chromulak (Garfield, N.J./Garfield) — who ended the night with four kills on seven swings with two errors (.286) and added two total blocks — eventually brought NJCU back and tied it up 11-11. That was the final burst for the Gothic Knights as Wentworth closed out the third 25-18.

Highlights
- Sophomore middle blocker Brandon DaSilva (Kearny, N.J./Kearny) finished with a team-high five kills on 13 swings with two errors (.231).
- Sophomore opposite James Bajor (Bayonne, N.J./Bayonne) chipped in five kills and a team-best seven digs.
- Junior setter Leo Ferrari (Kearny, N.J./Kearny) dished out 17 assists and added a block, a kill and three digs.