Ft Wayne Times

Purdue Fort Wayne Drops Match to NJIT 3-0

Purdue Fort Wayne men's volleyball fell to the NJIT Highlanders 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-23) on Saturday night (Jan. 7) in the Gates Sports Center.

The Mastodons led 13-11 in the opening set, but NJIT went on a 4-0 stretch with four-straight kills. The 'Dons tied up the set at 17 after a kill from Mark Frazier, but NJIT had a 5-2 push to go up three when it mattered most.

Purdue Fort Wayne went up in set two like in the first, but this time 6-3. Emmanuel Jurineack, Sergio Carrillo and Jon Diedrich combined for a triple block to put an exclamation point on the early start. NJIT had a 9-3 run after this, however, going up 12-9 to never trail again. Frazier had a pair of consecutive kills to bring it within four at 22-18, but NJIT rattled off the final three points of the set.

Carrillo had a kill midway through the third set to give the 'Dons an 11-8 lead, but NJIT went on a 10-3 stretch from that point on to take control of the frame. Purdue Fort Wayne held off two set points with a kill from Bryce Walker, but the visitors got the final point of the night.

Walker hit .857 on 6-0-7. Jurineack was 2-0-3 from the middle, combining with Walker for an .800 hitting clip from the middle blockers. Frazier's 12 kills were a career-high. Noah Melendez has six digs.

NJIT hit .403 for the match. The Highlanders were paced by 14 kills from Alessandro Negri.

Purdue Fort Wayne falls to 1-1, while NJIT starts the year 1-0. The Mastodons will take on defending two-time Division III national champion Carthage next week on Friday (Jan. 13). 

Original source can be found here.