TOURNAMENT BRACKET
CONFERENCE RELEASE
JERSEY CITY, NJ (www.NJCUGothicKnights.com)...The New Jersey City University men's volleyball team was among the youngest in the conference this season, but despite the learning curve, was talented enough to earn a post-season bid. The Gothic Knights have been selected as one of 16 teams out of 43 eligible to play in the 2010 North East Collegiate Volleyball Association Championship Tournament, which will be held April 9-11 at the Hyannis Youth and Community Center in Barnstable, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It will be the 16th year the championship is held. The Knights will play in the first round on Friday, April 9 at 2 p.m.
The NECVA Tournament Selection Committee announced the 2010 bracket on April 4, with the NECVA champion receiving the league's automatic bid to the Molten Division III Men's Invitational Volleyball Championship, to be held at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, April 16-17. Overall, the top two teams in each of the conference's five divisions—CUNYAC, GNAC, Metro, New England and Western Divisions—plus six at-large selections from among the 33 other eligible schools in the league, advance to the post-season event.
The Gothic Knights (17-9) will play in the tournament for the ninth time in program history and the first time since 2007, after securing the #16 overall seed in the championship event. Despite placing fifth of 10 teams with a 5-4 record in the NECVA Metro Division, the young Knights earned one of six available at-large bids to the tournament. Among the notable victories by NJCU this season were two victories against D'Youville College, the tournament's 14th seed, on February 20 and 21.
NJCU will have the challenge of facing top-seeded Rivier College (28-8), the GNAC Division Champions. Rivier claimed the #1 seed in the conference tournament for the second consecutive year and the second time in its history. Rivier, the 2006 NECVA champions, will make its 10th consecutive NECVA Tournament appearance since 2001.
NJCU is 6-8 all-time with a .429 winning percentage in 14 matches in its first eight appearances in the conference championship, having previously qualified in 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 and 2007.
It will be the second meeting this year between NJCU and Rivier. The Raiders, then ranked seventh in Division III, posted a 3-1 (30-22, 30-11, 28-30, 30-19) win over NJCU on February 20 at the Endicott College Invitational in Beverly, MA. NJCU still leads the all-time series with Rivier, 5-3, but the Raiders defeated the Knights for the third straight meeting. At the time of the loss on February 20, NJCU became the first unranked Division III team to win a set from Rivier this season.
In that meeting, NJCU was led by sophomore opposite AUSTIN BRYANT (Virginia Beach, VA/Kempsville), who posted 12 kills and four blocks while sophomore outside hitter KENNY LISK (Old Bridge, NJ/Old Bridge) provided eight kills. Junior libero CHRIS EDRA (Edison, NJ/JP Stevens) defended a match-high 17 digs.
Third-year head coach CARLO EDRA's 2010 version of the Gothic Knights saw two freshmen—DAVIS OBI (Old Bridge, NJ/Old Bridge) and CASEY BLAKE (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne)—starting in the middle and another standout freshman in the outside hitter position in JOSE MATTA (San Juan, Puerto Rico/Union Hill). While half of the starting lineup had no collegiate experience at all, Lisk became a starter for the first time this season and Bryant, who started in the middle as a rookie last year, played his first season as an opposite. Even junior setter JORGE RODRIGUEZ (Havana, Cuba/Memorial) was a newly-minted starter, having been inserted in that role midway through last year. Only Edra, a standout libero, was a full-timer at the same position last year.
—www.njcugothicknights.com—
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