RIVERDALE, N.Y. | The New Jersey City University (NJCU) men's volleyball team picked up its second consecutive win on Monday night over the University of Mount Saint Vincent, 3-0 (25-9, 25-17, 25-23). The win over UMSV was the 11th straight for the Gothic Knights.

NJCU (8-2) hit .297 as a team with 37 kills. Marcus Pardasie (Paramus, N.J./Cresskill), Amaru Perales (Harrison, N.J./Harrison), and Johan Vaidyan (Piscataway, N.J./Saint Joseph) led the offense with five kills each. Alex Casais (Bayonne, N.J./Bayonne) and Erick Bacuilima (North Bergen, N.J./North Bergen) orchestrated the offense with 15 and 13 assists, respectively.

UMSV (2-5) was led by Raeden Nieves, who tallied a match-high 9 kills and a team-high five digs. Matthew Barrancos dished out 11 assists and recorded a service ace.

Matt Peralta (Hackensack, N.J./Hackensack) gave the Gothic Knights an early 5-3 lead off a pass from Casais. Five points later, Casais sparked the Gothic Knights' offense with a kill that put them on a 6-1 run that extended their lead to 16-7. With the hefty lead in place, NJCU closed out the set on a 9-1 run that saw kills by Solomon Brown (Lakewood, N.J./Lakewood), Peralta, and Pardasie.

In the second set, the Gothic Knights jumped ahead early, however, UMSV fought back and eventually took an 11-10 lead. The lead was short-lived as a service error leveled the set at 11 before NJCU used a 7-1 run to take a commanding 17-12 lead. During that run, the Gothic Knights saw Nasir Paige (Cinnaminson, N.J./Cinnaminson), Alaittim De Leon (Santiago, Dominic Republic/Harrison), and Brown secure kills. UMSV cut the lead down to three, 19-16, but Perales went back-to-back to swing momentum back into NJCU's favor to close out the set and go up 2-0 in the match.

The third set was the closest bout of the three sets, with NJCU winning by just a pair, 25-23. Mikey Harte (New York, N.Y./St. John's Preparatory) capped a 7-3 run to start the set before UMSV came roaring back with a 4-1 run of its own. Unlike the first two sets, where NJCU cruised to the point limit, UMSV refused to bow out as they traded points late. The Gothic Knights broke the 20-20 deadlock with kills by Vaidyan and Harte to give them the breathing room they needed to complete the sweep.

Up Next:
NJCU returns to action on Sunday, February 15, where they will travel to Madison, NJ, to take on Drew University and Arcadia in a non-conference tri-match.

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