Men's Volleyball Sweeps D'Youville for Final Non-Conference Match

The NJIT men's volleyball team moved back into the win column, sweeping visiting D'Youville, 3-0, to conclude the non-conference portion of the schedule on Saturday afternoon inside the Joel and Diane Bloom Wellness and Events Center.

NJIT snaps a nine-match skid and improves to 8-12 overall while D'Youville moves to 5-11.

The Highlanders were led by senior Alessandro Negri's match-best 15 kills and .444 hitting percentage. Josh Gregg and Andrew Fedmasu each combined for seven kills. 

Freshman setter Bruno Figueiredo posted 35 assists and has recorded double-digit assists in 19 straight matches, surpassing the 500+ assists milestone as a freshman. Libero Diego Lopez registered nine digs while Fedmasu led the Highlanders with block assists.

In the first set, NJIT took a 10-5 lead but visiting D'Youville responded cutting the lead to one, 13-12. The Highlanders used a 4-1 run to go ahead by five, 20-15, resulting in a timeout by the Saints. D'Youville scored the next three out of four points to close the gap to within one, 24-23. Senior Alessandro Negri scored the final point of the set to give NJIT a 25-23 win and took a 1-0 lead.

NJIT took control of the second frame, 10-4 and extended its lead to 15-5 midway through the set. Late in the frame, D'Youville scored three out of four points for a 22-12 score. NJIT's Sid Ganpathy scored the final point of the set for a 25-13 victory and a 2-0 lead.

D'Youville opened the third set with a 4-1 lead but the Highlanders used a 10-2 run to take an 11-6 advantage, resulting in a timeout by the Saints. NJIT went up by eight points, 20-12, after a kill by Ian Nguyen. The Highlanders closed out the set on a 5-3 spurt for a 25-16 victory and secured the 3-0 home sweep over the Saints.

NJIT will begin a stretch of four matches on the road, visiting Charleston (WV) on the weekend of April 4-5 in EIVA Conference action. First spike is set for 7 p.m. on Friday and 2 p.m. on Saturday.