Men's Volleyball Sweeps NJCU Quad Match

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – The Wentworth Institute of Technology men's volleyball team hit over .300 as a team on the day as the Leopards swept a quad match at New Jersey City University by defeating CCNY, 3-1, and sweeping Brooklyn and the host Gothic Knights by identical 3-0 scores.

MATCH #1:  Wentworth 3, CCNY 1
After five ties and a pair of lead changes in the opening frame, the Leopards pulled away with a 25-17 win. Wentworth hit .290 in the first game and held the Beavers to an attack percentage of .000. Junior Ross Burdett (Needham, Mass.) had five of his team's 13 kills in the game.

CCNY used a late run to take a 25-21 win in the second game and tie the match at a game apiece. Sophomore Sean Donahue (Lincoln, R.I.) had six kills on seven swings, while junior Mike Buonincontra (Shelton, Conn.) had five digs.

The Leopards took the third and fourth games by 25-11 and 25-19 scores, respectively. In the third game Wentworth hit a sizzling .474, with Burdett recording six kills, and held CCNY to an attack percentage of -.211. The Black & Gold received six kills from Donahue in the fourth game, and, for the second straight game, held CCNY to a negative attack percentage.

Burdett and Donahue had 15 and 14 kills, respectively, with Donahue hitting .737 (14-0-19) and adding five blocks for the game. Junior Brian Mann (East Freetown, Mass.) had six kills, while Buonincontra had five kills and 11 digs. Freshman Aris Bega (Quincy, Mass.) had two aces and senior Tyler Moriarty (Wilbraham, Mass.) and freshman Bill Shimkus (Sudbury, Mass.) had 20 and 18 assists, respectively. As a team Wentworth hit .299 and held the Beavers to -.064.

MATCH #2:  Wentworth 3, Brooklyn 0
As a team the Black & Gold hit .387 in the match to sweep the Bulldogs by scores of 25-19, 25-13, and 25-12. The matchup was the first against Brooklyn since the 1999 season and all three series meetings have been played at NJCU.

The first game saw four ties in the early going before a late run pulled Wentworth away. Mann and sophomore Rami Akouri (Fall River, Mass.) had four kills apiece, with Burdett adding three digs. Wentworth finished the game with a .355 attack percentage.

Freshman Elijah Egalite (Bayonne, N.J.) recorded four kills, while Mann had three blocks and Akouri four digs as Wentworth used a 25-13 win in the second game to take a 2-0 lead. Egalite and Akouri had three kills apiece and Moriarty had a pair of aces in the third game – a game Wentworth led from start to finish – as the Leopards closed out the match with a 25-12 win. The Black & Gold hit a match-high .476 and for the third times in the first seven games on the day, held an opponent to a negative attack percentage (-.087).

Egalie hit .474, with 10 kills and just one attack error on 19 swings, and Akouri did not make an attack error, finishing with nine kills and a .500 attack percentage. Mann had eight kills and four blocks, while Moriarty, Akouri, and Burdett each finished with six digs. Moriarty also had 32 assists in the win.

MATCH #3:  Wentworth 3, New Jersey City 0
The Leopards completed the sweep with a 3-0 win over the host Gothic Knights in a tightly contested match. In the opening match there were eight ties and four lead changes, with the last tie coming at 15-15. From there Wentworth used a 7-1 run to take a 22-16 lead and didn't look back, winning 25-19. Burdett had five kills in the opening game, while Akouri added four. Moriarty had four digs.

After eight ties in the early going of the second game, Wentworth took a 13-10 lead, thanks to three straight NJCU errors. However, the Gothic Knights rallied and eventually forced a tie at 16-all. With Wentworth leading by a 20-18 score, the hosts pulled within one on a kill and tied the game for the 12th time of the game on a Wentworth setting error. The Leopards would score the next five points, with two coming on Burdett kills, to take a 25-20 win and a 2-0 lead. Burdett had seven kills in the game and Akouri added five kills and four blocks.

Mann and Akouri had four kills apiece and Moriarty had five digs to help the Leopards complete the sweep with a 25-16 win in the third game. Wentworth, which hit .458 in the first game and .379 in the second, had a match-high 13 digs and for the second time in the match, held NJCU to an attack percentage of .000.

Burdett finished with 14 kills and hit .500, while Akouri had 13 kills and hit .440. Akouri also had two aces, six digs, and six blocks. Moriarty had 11 digs and 37 assists and freshman Zach Newhouse (Lancaster, Calif.) had 10 digs. Wentworth hit .345 as a team in the win.

The Leopards improve to 3-1 on the season and host Lesley in their home opener on Tuesday night.