NJIT Sweeps EIVA Weekend Series from Sacred Heart, Meissner Registers Match-Best 13 Kills
NJIT swept the EIVA weekend series from Sacred Heart with its second consecutive 3-0 victory behind a match-best 13 kills by sophomore Julian Meissner Friday evening inside NJIT's Wellness and Events Center.
NJIT (2-2, 2-0 EIVA) picked up a 3-0 win on Thursday evening and followed up with a 3-0 victory on Friday in straight sets -- 25-19, 25-13 and 25-16.
Meissner led all players with 13 kills on 24 attempts for a .375 hitting percentage followed by Alvaro Gimeno and Jens Feldthus with eight kills each.
Setter Griffin Fieseler piled up a match-high 24 assists to go along with team-high honors five digs with Meissner.
Three different Highlanders — Meissner, Luca Berger and Feldthus each combined for three block assists.
NJIT held a 7-2 advantage in the service ace category led by Gimeno with three aces followed by a pair of aces from Meissner.
Sacred Heart (0-2, 0-2 EIVA) was led by a team-best 11 kills by Patrick Mucherino while Teddy Payne and Shawn Tischler split time at the setting position, combining for 16 and seven assists respectively. Carlos Terrassa posted a match-best six digs for the Pioneers.
NJIT hit .300 in the first frame which saw an early back and forth affair but the Highlanders pushed ahead 19-14 after four straight points and recorded the 25-19 win on a Pioneer error.
A dominant second set for NJIT which hit an impressive .462 to take a 2-0 lead behind a 25-13 win. NJIT took over from the start, jumping out to a 14-7 lead and later pushed its advantage to double-digits, 10, 20-8, after a 5-0 spurt, capped by a pair of aces from Alvaro Gimeno.
In the third frame, which saw four ties and one lead change, NJIT pushed out to a 12-7 lead and went ahead by seven, 16-9, on a Pioneer error. NJIT never looked back, taking a 20-12 lead on a Meissner kill and conclude the match with a kill by Meissner to secure the 3-0 sweep with a 25-16 victory.
NJIT will return to action next weekend when the Highlanders visit #11 Penn State Feb. 13-14. First spike set for 7 p.m. on both days.