February 3, 2011

NJCU Improves to 20-0 All Time Against Brooklyn

Story Courtesy of the NJCU Site

BOX SCORE
GAME PROGRAM/NOTES

JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University hit .306 as a team and four players generated a .429 or better hitting percentage with at least 10 attack attempts as the Gothic Knights improved to 20-0 all-time against Brooklyn College with a 3-0 (25-8, 25-20, 25-21) non-conference sweep of a match on Thursday night at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center on “Coach Charlie Brown Court.”

NJCU evens its record at 2-2 overall while Brooklyn drops to 1-1. The Knights had 33 kills in 72 swings and only 11 errors as a team and hit .444 in the opening set (9-1-18) and .379 in the second game (14-3-29).

Junior middle blocker/outside hitter KENNY LISK (Old Bridge, NJ/Old Bridge) increased his attack percentage for the season to an outstanding .415 by slamming six kills with no errors in 11 attacks for a .545 rate at two positions.

Senior setter JORGE RODRIGUEZ (Havana, Cuba/Memorial) moved into third place in school history with 1,588 assists, proving 28 helpers in the match with two blocks. He moved past Mike Eder on the all-time career list (1990-92, 1,579 assists). Rodriguez had a .452 setting percentage in the win.

Sophomore outside hitter MICHAL KUCZA (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne) floored a team-high seven kills and hit .429 (7-1-14) with two aces and freshman middle blocker NATHAN JOUBERT (Union City, NJ/Union City) hit .500 with six kills (6-1-10). In his first match since the 2009 season, sophomore middle blocker CORRADO DeVINCENZO (Bayonne, NJ/County Prep) was impressive with a .500 attack rate and five kills without an error (5-0-10) in just two sets.

Also for NJCU, senior libero CHRIS EDRA (Edison, NJ/J.P. Stevens) exceeded 800 digs for his career and now has 807 after posting a match-high nine in the win. Rookie opposite RICH BOYLE (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne) had five kills and three aces.

For Brooklyn, freshman middle hitter Alexander Shlivko (Brooklyn, NY/Midwood) collected a match-high nine kills (9-7-22, .091) and six digs. Junior setter Guillermo Melosevich (Belleville, NJ/East Side) finished with 17 assists.

In the opening set, NJCU led 11-5 before reeling off nine straight points for a 20-5 advantage behind the serving of sophomore VIN GENOVA (South Plainfield, NJ/South Plainfield). Lisk had a very productive set with three blocks, two kills (2-0-3, .667) and two aces. NJCU limited the Bulldogs to -.080 hitting in the game (6-8-25).

In the second set there were eight lead changes and 11 ties. The Bulldogs held a 17-13 lead after a kill by Shlivko and an ace before Joubert had two kills, Boyle landed an ace, and a Brooklyn attack error tied it. NJCU continued the 6-0 run on kills by Kucza and Joubert before Brooklyn tied it at 19-19. However, NJCU scored six of the final seven points in the set. A pair of kills by Kucza sandwiched around a Lisk winner made it 22-19 before BC committed three attack errors. Joubert hit .800 in the second game with four kills (4-0-5) and Kucza tacked on a .500 line (4-0-8). Lisk hit .429 (3-0-7) in the frame.

In the final set NJCU never trailed. Leading 15-13 midway through the period, the Knights opened a 21-15 lead after a winner by Joubert and a BC error. A pair of kills by DeVincenzo helped extend the lead to 24-19 before the Knights sealed the win on an error by the visitors.

NJCU will play a make-up match of a January 21 snow postponement tomorrow (Friday, February 4) at 8 p.m. when the Knights visit York College in their first road match of the season in Jamaica, Queens, NY.