GENEVA, N.Y. | The New Jersey City University (NJCU) men's volleyball team bounced back in the 2026 Statesman Tournament hosted by Hobart College with wins over #RV Nazareth, 3-1, and Trine, 3-1, on Sunday afternoon.
The match against Nazareth was just the second meeting in program history, and the win levels the playing field, moving the all-time record to 1-1. The Trine match, much like the match against #20 Hobart, was the first of its kind for NJCU.
Match 1: NJCU 3, #RV Nazareth 1 (25-20, 25-22, 22-25, 25-23)
NJCU (5-1) hit .297 as a team in the four-set win over Nazareth on Sunday morning. Marcus Pardasie (Paramus, N.J./Cresskill) recorded his second double-double of the season, tallying a team-high 14 kills and 12 digs. Matt Peralta (Hackensack, N.J./Hackensack) and Amaru Perales (Harrison, N.J./Harrison) also added double-digit kills, 13 and 11, respectively. Alex Casais (Bayonne, N.J./Bayonne) dished out 45 assists in the win, while adding eight blocks.
Nazareth (7-3) was held to .172 hitting as a team. Ryan Murphy led Nazareth with 13 kills, while hitting .357. Orchestrating the offense was AJ Burda, who tallied 29 assists.
The Gothic Knights jumped out to a 7-4 run thanks to two early kills by Peralta. NJCU continued to build on that lead with a 6-1 run highlighted by two kills by Casais. What looked to be a comfortable lead for NJCU, 17-9, Nazareth erased its deficit with an 8-1 run. NJCU saw its lead disappear before responding with a 5-1 run, thanks to Peralta and Perales, to regain the lead. The Gothic Knights sealed the opening set to go ahead 1-0 in the match thanks to a service error by Nazareth.
In the second set, NJCU had its best hitting performance of the match, hitting .429 as a squad. Despite the solid hitting percentage, Nazareth came out strong and took a 5-2 lead. Nazareth continued to build its lead and pushed its lead out to four, 12-8. Alaittim De Leon (Santiago, Dominic Republic/Harrison) ended NJCU's scoring drought with a kill that ignited a 6-0 run, which put the Gothic Knights ahead 14-12. Similar to the first set, Nazareth climbed back into the set late, making it a one-point game, 21-20. Peralta put the Gothic Knights on the winning path, hammering a kill to give NJCU a two-point lead before Casais slammed the door shut with a kill to give NJCU a 2-0 lead in the match.
NJCU trailed Nazareth late, 18-15, before tying the set up at 21 behind kills from Mike McGehee (Avondale, Ariz./Agua Fria) and Peralta. In the third, Nazareth made sure to complete their rally efforts as they used a 4-1 run down the stretch to steal a set from the Gothic Knights.
The Gothic Knights and Golden Flyers went back-and-forth early in the fourth set, with neither team able to separate until Nazareth took a 13-8 run thanks to a 5-0 run. A 7-2 run by the Gothic Knights tied the match up once again, this time at 16. Late in the set, a service error by Nazareth gave NJCU the opening it needed as Solomon Brown (Lakewood, N.J./Lakewood) added to the lead with a kill. Peralta put NJCU on the cusp of victory before an attacking error put NJCU back into the win column.
Match 1: NJCU 3, Trine 1 (25-23, 22-25, 25-23, 28-26)
NJCU (6-1) hit .207 as a team in the second match of the day, with Perales and Pardasie leading the way with 14 kills each. Pardasie added his second double-double of the day as he added 11 digs, however, it was Anthony Matute (Passaic, N.J./Passaic Charter) who led the Gothic Knights with 18 digs. Casais topped his season-high assist total from the prior match and collected 56 assists in the win over Trine.
Trine (4-6) was led by Johnson-Kuhao Ho'okano-Pelekai's 11 kills, offensively. Bryce Tupaz collected a team-high 43 assists and tied for the team lead with 12 digs.
The Gothic Knights took an early 4-2 lead via four straight kills with contributions by Peralta, Pardasie, and Victor De Souza (Newark, N.J./Newark East Side). NJCU used another 4-0 run to stretch its lead to 10-6 before Trine answered with a 5-1 run to knot the set up at 11. The teams continued to trade points down the stretch until Peralta and Pardasie gave NJCU a three-point cushion, 23-20, to set up Perales for the set-winning kill.
NJCU's offense went cold in the second set as they tallied just five kills with five errors. Despite the lack of offense by the Gothic Knights, Trine didn't run away with the set as NJCU had it knotted at 19 late in the set. A service error by NJCU gave Trine all it needed to tie the match at one.
The Gothic Knights had to climb out of a hole in the third set as they trailed Trine for more than half of the set. Down by two, 21-19, Pardasie gave the Gothic Knights the spark they needed, which translated into a 6-1 run to close out the set.
In the fourth set, the Gothic Knights were in the pole position for a majority of the set until Trine grabbed hold of the lead, 20-19. Trine was just one point away from forcing a fifth set, but De Souza prevented that with an electric kill to keep the set going. Trine would move into the lead position two more times before NJCU flipped the script with a 3-0 run to end the match.
FROM HEAD COACH CARLO EDRA:
"This was a big day for us. Nazareth started the season nationally ranked, and we had a battle with them. With no rest time in between, we had to play a very good Trine team directly. Today we played eight hard-fought sets and came out with two wins, which was the team's way of saying thank you to Brandon DaSilva, our strength and conditioning coach."
Up Next:
NJCU returns to action on Tuesday, February 3, when they travel to Union, NJ, to take on Kean University at 7:00 pm for a rivalry showdown.
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