JERSEY CITY, N.J. | The New Jersey City University (NJCU) men's volleyball team remained unbeaten in the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) with the 3-0 (25-12, 25-10, 25-8) sweep against York and the 3-0 (25-12, 25-9, 25-19) sweep of the City College of New York (CCNY).
Match 1: NJCU 3, York 0
NJCU (12-5, 5-0) hit a blistering .453 against the Cardinals. Mikey Harte (New York, N.Y./St. John's Preparatory) paced the squad with eight kills while Alaittim De Leon (Santiago, Dominic Republic/Harrison) and Solomon Brown (Lakewood, N.J./Lakewood) followed up with seven and six, respectively. Nasir Paige (Cinnaminson, N.J./Cinnaminson) was efficient from the charity stripe with a team-high four aces. Erick Bacuilima (North Bergen, N.J./North Bergen) orchestrated the offense with 16 assists.
York (1-10, 0-4) was held to -.027 on the day with 15 total kills. Alexis Ramirez led the charge with seven kills and seven digs. Jesus Gomez tallied a team-high 11 assists.
The Gothic Knights stormed out to a commanding 11-2 lead in the opening set as five different NJCU players recorded kills. The Cardinals strung a pair of points together but couldn't build momentum as the Gothic Knights responded with a 6-1 run. Brown added two kills to his tally late during a 3-0 run that put NJCU within two points of taking a 1-0 match lead. A pair of York errors handed NJCU the first set.
NJCU stayed red-hot to open the second set, scoring six unanswered points behind kills by Paige, Brown, and Johan Vaidyan (Piscataway, N.J./Saint Joseph). York broke NJCU's run with a 3-0 surge of their own to cut the deficit in half. The Cardinals kept it close until De Leon ignited a 9-1 run for the Gothic Knights to balloon the lead to 17-5. The Cardinals benefited from a pair of late NJCU errors, but it wasn't enough as Vaidyan and Paige sealed the set.
Harte opened the scoring for the Gothic Knights in the third set, propelling NJCU to a 5-2 advantage. Later in the frame, Harte served as the catalyst for another run, this time five straight, as NJCU jumped out to a commanding 14-5 lead. Alexis Ramirez of York tallied a kill to make it 16-8 before NJCU ripped off a 9-0 run to complete the sweep.
Match 2: NJCU 3, CCNY 0
NJCU (13-5, 5-0) remained hot and hit .463 as a team with 34 kills. Brown and Mike McGehee (Avondale, Ariz./Agua Fria) led the team with seven kills each while Alex Casais (Bayonne, N.J./Bayonne) dished out a team-high 15 assists. Marcus Pardasie (Paramus, N.J./Cresskill) tallied four kills in the win to move him up to eighth all-time at NJCU for career kills.
CCNY (6-8, 1-5) was led by Gabriel Linus's eight kills and Diangelo Arias's 12 digs.
NJCU seized an early 11-4 lead after capitalizing on eight CCNY errors. With the commanding advantage in place, the Gothic Knights never relinquished the lead as Casais and Pardasie teamed up to secure the final kill and put NJCU ahead 1-0.
In the second set, CCNY grabbed a 2-1 edge before NJCU responded with a 5-0 run, led by Vaidyan, to catapult into the lead, 6-2. The set remained tight until NJCU exploded on a 9-1 run to push the lead to 18-7 over the Beavers. The momentum didn't stop there as Pardasie ignited a 7-1 run to close the set and give NJCU a 2-0 match advantage.
The third set proved to be the most competitive of the match. NJCU jumped out to an early 9-3 lead before ballooning the advantage to 20-8. Needing just five points to complete the sweep, NJCU's offense stalled as CCNY mounted an 11-3 rally. With CCNY surging, De Leon and Keandre Henderson (Austin, Tx./Hutto) rose to the occasion and put an end to the comeback bid to seal the sweep.
FROM HEAD COACH CARLO EDRA:
"This trimatch was a big team day. Every single player was able to hit the court and take care of business. March is an important month because it builds momentum for the conference playoffs, and starting with a couple of wins is a good start."
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