DALLAS, Pa. – The New Jersey City University men's volleyball team stayed on the road to compete in the Misericordia University Tri-match on Saturday, Feb. 26. Both matches were close battles, especially in the five-set win over Alvernia University. The Gothic Knights ultimately ended victorious in the first match of the day but weren't able to pull the same outcome against the host team. Jersey City dropped 3-1 to the Cougars in that one.

Match #1: NJCU 2, Alvernia 3 (18-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-23, 15-8)
Jersey City (9-5) took Alvernia (7-5) to five sets in today's first match-up. After dropping the first set to the Golden Wolves, the Gothic Knights fought back to win the second set. Despite trailing in the majority of the third set, Alvernia managed to catch up to NJCU and pull ahead for a late win. Now in the fourth set, both teams continued to notch kills back-and-forth. Up by a single point, NJCU claimed the set following an Alvernia attack error. Now in the final set, Jersey City took an early lead in the race to 15. Kills from senior Jonathan Andrews (North Bergen, N.J./North Bergen), junior tri-captain Brandon DaSilva (Kearny, N.J./Kearny) and sophomore Mahmoud Serour (Kearny, N.J./Kearny) closed out the victory for the Green and Gold, taking the set 15-8.

Multiple Gothic Knights set season- or career-best marks in the match against the Golden Wolves. Andrews recorded a match- and season-high 23 kills, while DaSilva – having just set a career mark yesterday – notched a career-best 19 kills. Senior setter Leo Ferrari (Kearny, N.J./Kearny) also tagged a season-high of 46 assists in a single match and has a total of 321 this season.

Highlights vs. Alvernia:
- The team combined for a total of 16 blocks tonight. DaSilva led with a career-high 10 blocks, followed by junior tri-captain James Bajor (Bayonne, N.J./Bayonne) with a career-best seven and junior tri-captain Hanel Collado (North Bergen, N.J./North Bergen) with a career-high five.
- Ferrari finished with a season-high 15 digs, closely followed by senior Daniel Esteva (Union, N.J./Union) with 13 and Bajor with seven.
- Andrews notched four service aces; Bajor two and DaSilva with one. 

Match #2: NJCU 1, Misericordia 3 (25-14, 25-19, 21-25, 25-16)
Jersey City held on in the second match-up of the day against the host team, Misericordia (9-11). Despite dropping the first two sets, the Gothic Knights managed to pull away in the third. Kills from Andrews, Bajor, Collado and sophomore Chris Castillo (North Bergen, N.J./High Tech) helped put NJCU in the lead. With some additional service aces and multiple Misericordia errors, Jersey City claimed the third set 25-21.

Andrews notched the first kill for NJCU in the fourth and final set, however, the Cougars quickly picked up momentum and gained an early lead. DaSilva, Serour and Castillo all registered kills in the fourth set, but it wasn't enough to close the deal. Misericordia took the final set 25-16, finishing off the day for the Gothic Knights.
 
Highlights vs. Misericordia:
- Andrews and Bajor both ended with six kills and DaSilva tallied four.
- DaSilva and Andrews had two blocks each, plus Ferrari with a solo block.
- Collado held a team-high seven digs, followed by Esteva with five and Bajor with four.
- Collado also had two service aces, while Castilllo tallied a single. 

Up Next:
The Gothic Knights return home to host Drew University at the John J. Moore Athletics & Fitness Center (JMAC) on Wednesday, March 2, at 7:00 p.m. Catch all the action live on GothicVision.