The Lehman College men's volleyball team began a new season Thursday evening by dropping a non-conference contest to the New Jersey City Gothic Knights by a score of 3-0 (30-19, 30-15, 30-21) on the 'Charlie Brown Court' at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center.
Despite the loss for the Lightning, Lehman received 16 assists from junior setter Nate Martin and seven kills and seven digs from sophomore outside hitter Jonathan Cruz. In addition, junior outside hitter RJ LeBlanc tallied five kills and had seven digs, while Joseph Bodden added four kills and six digs. Following the match, Head Coach Daniel Skilins gave his thoughts on how he felt his team performed in the season-opener.
“This team played extremely well, and we learned a lot about ourselves tonight,” Skilins said. “We are looking forward to bouncing back against Yeshiva University next week. This team needs to develop consistency but I liked the energy and fire I saw from this group tonight. We'll use the time off to refocus and we'll be ready for our next match.”
In the victory for the Gothic Knights of New Jersey City University, it was standout Kevin Rodgers posting a match-high 13 kills to go along with eight digs. Kenny Lisk recorded nine kills while Austin Bryant added eight kills, and Thiago Siqueira finishing the evening with five kills and 10 digs. Sensation Justin Beaumont set up a match-high 27 assists.
The Gothic Knights kept the pressure on the Lightning throughout the evening. NJCU jumped out to leads of 8-3 and 10-5 in the opening set. Lehman came within 15-13 before the Knights reeled off runs of 6-0 and 10-2, to seize a 25-15 lead, winning by 11. After landing 15 kills in set one, NJCU was even more lethal on attack in the second frame, posting a .462 percentage on 16 kills (16-4-26). The Knights actually trailed, 11-9, before unleashing a 21-4 run to finish the set.
The Lightning will return to action next Thursday evening as the team travels to New York, New York to battle Yeshiva University in another non-conference match, with start time scheduled for 8:00pm.
