JERSEY CITY, N.J. — The New Jersey City University men's volleyball team squared off with Skyline Conference rival and two-time defending champion St. Joseph's University-Long Island on Tuesday night, April 2, for the second time this season. After defeating the Golden Eagles at their place in mid-March in five sets, the Gothic Knights unfortunately suffered their first Skyline defeat of the season, falling in four sets to St. Joe's (22-25, 25-17, 25-20, 25-14). Both teams are now tied atop the conference standings with 14-1 records after splitting the regular-season series.
The Gothic Knights (17-9, 14-1 Skyline) started off the first set on a mission, winning the first four points and eventually jumping out to a 5-1 lead against SJLI (20-6, 14-1 Skyline) — fifth year co-captain middle blocker
Brandon DaSilva (Kearny, N.J./Kearny) had a couple of blocks during that early run. NJCU eventually stretched that out to an 11-6 lead, including another blocks, this time from DaSilva and sophomore setter
Alex Casais (Bayonne, N.J./Bayonne). The Golden Eagles came back, however, and tied it up for the first time at 16-16, forcing a Jersey City timeout. The teams then traded leads and ties 11 times before the Gothic Knights closed out the set on a 4-1 run to take it 25-22. DaSilva and graduate student co-captain opposite
James Bajor (Bayonne, N.J./Bayonne) each had kills, followed by a three-man block from Casais, sophomore middle blocker
Amaru Perales (Harrison, N.J./Harrison) and senior outside hitter
Mahmoud Serour (Kearny, N.J./Kearny). An ace from Bajor sealed it. He was 7-for-10 with no attack errors in that set, adding a couple of aces, while DaSilva had fix kills on six swings and no errors to go with three blocks.
Set number two started out all St. Joe's, unfortunately, and the visitors eventually took a commanding eight-point, 17-9 lead. Back-to-back kills for Bajor and then one by Perales cut it to five at 17-12, but the Golden Eagles eventually stretched it back out to eight and won the set, 25-17, to even up the match. Serour had three kills and a block in this set, while rookie outside hitter
Marcus Pardasie (Paramus, N.J./Cresskill) and Bajor each had a trio of kills themselves. The third set was extremely even through the majority of play, with the two squads exchanging ties and leads 20 times until it reached a 16-16 stalemate. However, St. Joe's then went on a 7-1 run to take a 23-17 lead. NJCU answered with a 3-1 run of its own to make it 24-20, but the visitors took the final point to go up, 2-1, in the match. DaSilva had four kills and no errors in the third, while Pardasie had four and Bajor had three.
St. Joe's started out the final set on a 5-1 run and built that up to a 12-point lead at various points before taking the set, 25-14. Junior middle blocker
Nate Aguilar (Kearny, N.J./Kearny) came in for this set and was efficient, notching three kills and no errors on five swings, while DaSilva had three more kills, as well.
Highlights:
- Bajor led NJCU with 14 kills and just four errors on 28 swings (.357 hitting percentage). He added a match-best nine digs and a match-high-tying two aces.
- DaSilva finished with 13 kills and four errors on 27 swings (.333), adding a team-high three total blocks and a couple of digs.
- Pardasie notched eight kills, five digs and a block, while Serour had five kills and a couple of blocks.
- Casais dished out 39 assists to go with an ace, two digs and two blocks.
Up Next:
The Gothic Knights return to action on Thursday night, April 4, back at the JMAC as Ramapo College comes to Jersey City for a double conference match (Skyline and New Jersey Athletic Conference) on Senior Night, beginning at 7:00 p.m.
