Men's Volleyball Rallies Back in Five-Set Victory, Gregg and Negri Share Match-High Honors

NJIT's Josh Gregg and Alessandro Negri shared match-high honors with 19 kills as the Highlanders rallied back in a five-set 3-2 victory over Queens (NC) Saturday evening on the campus of Saint Francis U.

NJIT, which have won two in a row and are winners of the last five out of six matches, improved to 5-4 on the young season while Queens (NC) moved to 4-5.  Friday night, NJIT held on for a five-set victory over Saint Francis U.

The Highlanders earned a 25-17 victory in the first frame and Queens (NC) evened the match at 1-1 with a 25-22 win in the second set.  The Royals took the third set 25-19 to go up 2-1 but the Highlanders responded with a 25-17 victory in the fourth set, forcing a fifth and deciding frame.

In the fifth frame, which went for extra points, saw the Highlanders finish with a .458 hitting percentage on 14 kills, 24 attempts and just three errors.  Neither team led by more than two points through-out the fifth set and saw 15 ties up until the final one at 21-all.  NJIT's Carson Williams back-to-back kills for the final two points of the match secured the Highlanders 23-21 victory and earned the 3-2 road thriller.

The 19 kills for NJIT's Gregg is a new personal-best mark, who finished with a .424 hitting percentage on 33 attempts and five errors to go along with five digs.  Negri registered 19 kills on 34 swings with five errors for a .412 hitting percentage while adding four assists and three digs in the Highlanders win.

Williams, who combined for his biggest two kills on the night, securing the 3-2 victory, notched 12 kills on 19 swings with just two errors for a .526 hitting percentage.  Williams led NJIT in front of the net with four total blocks (one solo, three assists).

Senior setter Griffin Fieseler tallied a match-best 55 assists and eight digs while freshman libero Ron Tidhar combined for a career-best 14 digs.

Will Migdal added seven kills and six digs followed by Andrew Fedmasu's five kills on eight swings with just one error for a .500 hitting percentage for the match.  Fedmasu added two aces, two block assists and two digs.

NJIT will return to Newark and host two matches next week, first welcoming LIU on February 2 at 6pm and Merrimack on February 4 at 1pm.  Both games will be streamed live for free on the America East Conference digital network.