PATCHOGUE, N.Y. — The New Jersey City University men's volleyball team, which started the season with just three wins over its first 11 matches, has now ratted off NINE consecutive victories, capped off by its most recent one tonight, Wednesday, March 13, on the road against two-time defending Skyline Conference champions, St. Joseph's Universty-Long Island. NJCU had previously defeated the Golden Eagles just once in program history — the 2021 Skyline Championship match — but the Gothic Knights answered the bell tonight on Long Island with a big-time five-set win (22-25, 25-21, 22-25, 25-20, 15-11).

The Green and Gold (12-8, 9-0 Skyline) dropped the first set to St. Joe's-LI (12-5, 7-1 Skyline) and were forced to come back and tie it with a second-set win. Then, down 2-1 after dropping the third, NJCU once again evened things up with a strong fourth-set win before taking the decisive fifth for the victory. The two programs have now met 11 times dating back to their first match in 2017 and four of those contests have gone five sets, with the Gothic Knights winning two of them. In this presumptive-Skyline Championship preview, NJCU got some stellar performances out of its big-time contributors when it mattered most, leading to the strong win over the Golden Eagles.

Set number one started out very even, the both squads trading points until St. Joe's led 9-7. NJCU then went on a 9-2 run to take the 16-11 lead as the road squad looked to gain the early 1-0 advantage in the match — graduate student co-captain opposite James Bajor (Bayonne, N.J./Bayonne) had three kills over that stretch, while rookie outside hitter Marcus Pardasie (Paramus, N.J./Cresskill) had a pair and fifth-year co-captain middle blocker Brandon DaSilva (Kearny, N.J./Kearny) had a kill and an ace. Unfortunately, the Golden Eagles won 14 of the final 20 points in the set to take the early lead. Bajor finished the set with five kills, while Pardasie had four and DaSilva had two and a couple of blocks.

The second set saw the Green and Gold jump out to 5-1 lead before they extended that to a 12-7 advantage. SJLI came alive after that, going on a 7-1 run to take the 14-13 lead. NJCU could have backed down at that point and fell into a 2-0 match deficit, but head coach Carlo Edra's squad stepped up and fired off an 11-4 run to go up 24-18 before winning the set 25-21 and evening up the match at one apiece. DaSilva dominated once again, notching five kills and two more blocks, while Pardasie had five kills, as well. Sophomore middle blocker Amaru Perales (Harrison, N.J./Harrison) also notched four kills on four swings.

Much like the first set, St. Joe's started off the third by getting out to a 9-7 lead. After NJCU answered and tied it up at 9-9, the Golden Eagles won five of the next six points to take the 14-10 lead. The teams then traded points, with the Gothic Knights taking a couple more here and there and eventually, SJLI led by just one at 23-22. However, the home squad picked up the final two points to go up 2-1 in the match. DaSilva had another five kills, while Pardasie had four and Bajor had three.

Facing a match-clinching set for the Golden Eagles, the Gothic Knights needed to get back on top in the fourth, and that they did. Leading 3-2, the Green and Gold when on a 7-1 run to take a 10-3 lead, including a couple more kills from Perales. SJLI cut it back to 11-7, but NJCU once again gained momentum via a 6-1 run, which built up a 17-8 advantage. St. Joe's responded by winning eight of the next 11 points to make it a 20-16 game, but the Gothic Knights held on to win five of the final nine points of the set, evening the match up at 2-2. Perales had six kills in that set, while Pardasie had five and a block.

Deadlocked, the squads went into the fifth looking for a winner. They started off by trading blows back and forth until the Golden Eagles led 8-7 at the side swap. From that point on, NJCU was on a roll, winning eight of the next 11 points to take the set 15-11 and the match 3-2. DaSilva had three kills and three blocks int he fifth, while Perales had a couple of kills, as well.

Highlights:
- Sophomore setter Alex Casais (Bayonne, N.J./Bayonne) was outstanding as he dished out a career- and match-best 57 assists on the night to go with seven digs, two blocks, two kills and an ace.
- Fifth-year co-captain libero Nico Figueroa (Jersey City, N.J./County Prep) led all players with a career-best 15 digs, while senior outside hitter Mahmoud Serour (Kearny, N.J./Kearny) had 10 digs, three blocks and two kills.
- DaSilva was a monster at the net with a match-best eight total blocks to go with a season-high 17 kills and just two errors on 31 swings (.484 hitting percentage). He added two digs and an ace.
- Pardasie led the Gothic Knights with a collegiate-best 19 kills on 42 swings with eight errors (.262) and recorded the first double-double of his career with 10 digs to go with two blocks.
- Perales was extremely efficient on the night, finishing with 14 kills and just one error on 23 swings (.565).
- Bajor had 11 kills and 10 digs to go with two blocks for his first double-double of the season and ninth of his career.
- NJCU's nine-match winning streak matches the third-longest in program history, matching the 2022 team when the Gothic Knights also won nine in a row between March 22-April 7, 2022. The Green and Gold won 11 in a row between Feb. 2-March 4, 2006, and the program record is 14 straight from Feb. 16-March 3, 1997.

Up Next:
The Gothic Knights return to action on Tuesday night, March 19, in Purchase, N.Y., as they put their nine-match streak on the line at Purchase College, with first serve scheduled for 7:00 p.m. NJCU has not lost to the Panthers since 2017 and have only dropped one set to them since.