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 Junior Leonardo Paludo |
March 22, 2007
NEW PALTZ, NY - The New Jersey Institute of Technology men's volleyball team raised its season record to 14-6 with an impressive 3-0 win at the State University of New York at New Paltz Thursday night.
This year's 14 victories are the most in a season for NJIT since the 2000 Highlanders finished with 16 wins. New Paltz, ranked in the Division III national Top 10, is 19-7 on the season after losing to the Highlanders.
NJIT.gained momentum as the match progressed, taking the tight first game, 30-28, before overpowering the home team, 30-19 and 30-17.
The Highlanders were far too strong on the attack for the New Paltz floor defense to handle, as NJIT posted a .464 team attack percentage on 49 kills and 10 errors in 84 attempts. New Paltz managed to dig just 21 of NJIT's 84 attacks.
Leonardo Paludo led NJIT with 14 kills without an error on just 18 swings, good for a .778 attack percentage. Amobi Armstrong had nine kills, while Greg Wagner notched eight kills and one error in 12 attempts and Charles Bell had seven kills and one error in 11 attempts.
Rodrigo Correa triggered the Highlanders offense, with 40 assists, while Eduardo Welter led the way on the defensive side, with seven digs. Chris Siddayao added six digs for NJIT. Mike Nonnenmann, who entered the match at setter part way through the third game, led the Highlanders at the net, picking up a block solo and a block assist.
Joshua Spiro's 12 kills and Matthew Weingarten's 36 assists were tops for the Hawks. Jeff Lee was the New Paltz defensive leader, with five digs and two block solos.
NJIT, which has been playing non-league matches recently, now faces two critical matches in its quest to win the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Hay Division regular season championship.
The Highlanders, who went to the EIVA playoffs last year as the Hay's second-seeded team, are 6-1 after seven matches of the 10-match Hay Division schedule. Springfield, the only Hay team to defeat NJIT, has one loss and NYU, the only team to defeat Springfield, has two losses in the Hay.
Controlling their own fate, the Highlanders will visit NYU on Thursday in a 7 pm match and then they will host Springfield in the home finale two days later on Saturday, March 31, at 7 pm in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
In the first meeting between NJIT and NYU in January, the Highlanders scored a 3-1 win over the Violets in the EIVA Hay opener for both teams. Last year, when NYU was in the higher-rated Tait Division, it defeated the Highlanders, 3-1, in the only 2006 meeting between the teams.
