JERSEY CITY, N.J. | Solomon Brown (Lakewood, N.J./Lakewood) and Amaru Perales (Harrison, N.J./Harrison) each notched career-highs in the four-set, 3-1 (25-18, 24-26, 25-23, 23-23), win over the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) foes, Hunter College.
NJCU (14-5, 6-0) hit a robust .325 as a team, led by Brown's career-high 19 kills on .516 hitting and Perales' career-high 18 kills on .571 hitting and six block assists. Alex Casais (Bayonne, N.J./Bayonne) dished out a team-high 54 assists in the win while Anthony Matute (Passaic, N.J./Passaic Charter) collected 13 digs.
Hunter (13-6, 3-2) was led by Ahmed Mohamed's 19 kills. Demetri Gournelos added 10 while Wesley Stubbs finished with a team-high 26 assists. Defensively, Mohamed led the charge with 16 digs while Sebastian Gomez tallied five blocks, two solo.
NJCU seized an early 4-2 lead in the opening set against the Hawks behind a pair of Brown kills. Brown and Victor De Souza (Newark, N.J./Newark East Side) later teamed up to extend the advantage to 12-8. Hunter remained in striking distance late in the frame until Mike McGehee (Avondale, Ariz./Agua Fria) ignited a 5-2 run to close out the set.
Hunter claimed the second set despite a late Gothic Knights rally. The Hawks led wire-to-wire behind a dominant 8-2 opening. Following a De Souza kill, Hunter ripped off a 6-1 run to stretch the lead to 18-12. NJCU responded with a 6-1 surge of its own, capped by a Nasir Paige (Cinnaminson, N.J./Cinnaminson) kill to pull within one. NJCU eventually knotted it at 24, but Hunter secured the final two points to level the match at one.
Neither team gained a strong foothold in the third set, as the largest lead reached just five points. The Gothic Knights established that five-point cushion on a Hunter service error. The Hawks stormed back to make it a one-point set with a 4-0 run, but Alaittim De Leon (Santiago, Dominic Republic/Harrison) slammed a kill off the floor to halt the momentum and swing the pendulum back toward NJCU. Down the stretch, Hunter tied it at 22 before NJCU deployed a 3-1 run to take a 2-1 match lead.
The Gothic Knights found themselves in a similar situation to the second set, with Hunter coming out strong and leading for the majority of the frame. The Gothic Knights clawed back into the set and trailed 21-19 before using a 6-2 run led by Perales to seal the match in four sets.
From Head Coach Carlo Edra:
"Tonight was the biggest conference match of the season to date, and to lose one of our leaders, Marcus Pardasie (Paramus, N.J./Cresskill), before the match should send any team into panic mode. Every single player stepped up tonight and pulled off one of the season's biggest wins. It is indescribable how proud I am of these guys tonight. We have a deep roster, and we got to showcase that tonight."
Up Next:
The Gothic Knights return to action on Saturday, March 14, when they host John Jay and Misericordia.
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