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 Eduardo Welter came up big in big match at NYU |
March 29, 2007
NEW YORK - Eduardo Welter had 20 kills, leading visiting New Jersey Institute of Technology past New York University, 3-1, Thursday night in a win that clinched a berth for the Highlanders in the mid-April Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association playoffs.
The win raised the Highlanders to 7-1 in the EIVA Hay Division, tying them for the top spot with Springfield, which will visit NJIT on Saturday at 7 pm in a showdown for sole possession of first place in the Hay Division (Springfield will play Hay foe New Haven the day before visiting NJIT and the Highlanders will visit New Haven on April 9, as each team wraps up the 10-match Hay regular season schedule).
In order to set up the Saturday showdown, the Highlanders, now 15-6 overall, first had to beat third-place NYU at NYU.
In addition, the NJIT win over NYU eliminated the Violets from contention for one of the top two Hay Division spots, each of which earns one of six berths in the EIVA postseason playoffs (the higher power rated Tait Division gets four berths). The 2007 postseason berth is the second straight for NJIT.
Thursday's win did not come easily against NYU, which competed in the Tait Division last season and which is ranked fifth in the latest national Division III poll.
NJIT took the first game, 30-28, before NYU pulled even with a 30-25 win in game two. The Highlanders then secured the match with 30-23 and 30-25 wins in the next two games.
In addition to Welter's 20 kills, the Highlanders also got double-figure kills totals from Leonardo Paludo (14 kills), Amobi Armstrong (13) and Greg Wagner (11). Wagner, the junior middle hitter, was brutally efficient again, blasting 11 kills in 21 swings, with just three errors for a team-best .381 attack percentage. His season attack percentage is .441.
Setter Rodrigo Correa had 50 assists for NJIT, while Welter had a match-high 15 digs and libero Chris Siddayao had 10 digs.
Devin Zolnowski and Jon Wintermeyer each had 12 kills to lead the attack for NYU (12-14 overall and 5-4 in the EIVA Hay). David Tener had 10 digs and Brian Vilven had 11 blocks (2 solo, 9 assisted) to lead the Violets.
