RIVERDALE, N.Y. — The New Jersey City University men's volleyball team dominated the College of Mount Saint Vincent Dolphins in every facet of the match tonight, Tuesday, March 22, as the Gothic Knights picked up the straight-set (25-13, 25-12, 25-13) victory to jump over the .500 in Skyline Conference play. Overall, it was a team effort in the win as 14 different Gothic Knights saw the floor, and 11 of them notched points toward the victory.
Jersey City (14-8, 4-3 Skyline) have now surpassed 13 wins, the squad's previous high in recent years (2019) and now have the most victories in one season since 2016 when NJCU went 19-18. Tonight against the Dolphins (3-8, 3-4 Skyline), things never really got out of hand for the Gothic Knights. Exemplifying this right off the bat, the Green and Gold held a slim 8-5 lead early in the first before a 5-0 run made it 13-5 — junior tri-captain opposite
James Bajor (Bayonne, N.J./Bayonne) notched a kill and an ace in that stretch. Then, leading 19-13 in that same set, NJCU closed out on a 6-0 run — senior outside hitter
Jonathan Andrews (North Bergen, N.J./North Bergen) had three aces during that run — to take it 25-13.
To start set number two, CMSV tried to keep it close and had it knotted up at 6-6 before the Gothic Knights blew out to a 8-0 run to take the 14-6 advantage. Freshman middle blocker
Nate Aguilar (Kearny, N.J./Kearny) had a pair of kills during that run — he led all players with a match-high six kills and one error on 12 swings (.417 hitting percentage) to go with a solo stuff. NJCU eventually closed out the second with a 6-2 run, thanks in part to kills from Bajor, Aguilar and sophomore outside hitter
Mahmoud Serour (Kearny, N.J./Kearny), taking it 25-12.
One again, the third and final set started out close as the Dolphins trailed by just one at 6-5. At that point, NJCU went on a 10-3 run to make it 14-8. A trio of newcomers in sophomore
Kenneth Gil (North Bergen, N.J./North Bergen) and freshmen
Ryan Lin (Union, N.J./Union) and
Anthony Trivers (Washington Township, N.J./Washington Township) notched an ace an a kill each, respectively, to help out during that run. Eventually, leading 22-13, Jersey City claimed the final three points, capped off by a kill from Lin, to take the set 25-13 and the match, 3-0.
Highlights:
- Both Andrews and Bajor had five kills on 11 swings. The former added a match-high four aces, six digs and a block, while the ladder finished with one ace, one block and three digs.
- Lin ended the night with four kills and a dig. Trivers also had four kills and a pair of digs.
- Junior tri-captain middle blocker
Brandon DaSilva (Kearny, N.J./Kearny) finished with a match-high-tying four total blocks and notched three kills in just two sets played.
- Junior Nico Figuero saw two sets of action as the libero and tied his career-high with 10 digs, also tying the match-best number.
Up Next:
NJCU returns to the court on Thursday evening, March 24, for another road Skyline clash, this time in Purchase, N.Y., against the Panthers of Purchase College. The match is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m.
