New Jersey City University Athletics

SKYLINE CONFERENCE REPORT#1: AWARDS
SKYLINE CONFERENCE STATS: INDIVIDUAL | TEAM

NEW YORK, NY (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University freshman outside hitter BESMIR ARSLANI (Wayne, NJ/Wayne Valley) made an immediate impact in his first week of collegiate volleyball, and after averaging a colossal 5.39 points and 4.64 kills per set, Arslani has been named the first Skyline Conference Rookie of the Week of the 2012 season. It is NJCU's first season as an associate member of the Skyline Conference for men's volleyball.
 
Arslani, a 6-foot-2, two-time Second-Team All-State standout in high school, made a seamless transition to the NCAA game, tallying 65 kills, a .240 percentage (65-34-129), 75.5 points, 27 digs, seven service aces, five blocks (two solo) and four assists in 14 sets over four matches as the Gothic Knights went 2-2. He also averaged 1.93 digs, 0.50 aces and 0.36 blocks per set.
 
Arslani, a primary passer for NJCU, also performed well on serve receive, posting a .949 percentage with only four reception errors in 79 total attempts.
 
Arslani had a match-high in kills in all four matches last week and leads the Skyline Conference in kills and kills per set by a substantial margin. The next closest player had 37 kills and a 4.11 kills average. Arslani also ranked fifth in the league in aces, 11^th in hitting percentage and 12^th in digs.
 
“His effort on the court was fantastic and since day one I've been preaching effort, effort, effort,” said first-year head coach Kevin Rodgers. “He's bought into it—probably the most of anyone on the team. I told them if you show that effort it's going to pay off and by him getting Rookie of the Week, it shows that it's already paying off.”
 
Arslani's best match came in a 3-2 home conference loss to Kean University on January 28 that was decided in the fifth set by two points, 15-13. He was a force to be reckoned with on the court, slamming a match and career-high 22 kills on 49 attempts (11 errors) for a .224 percentage, while defending 10 digs and blocking two balls for his first career double-double. He had nearly half of NJCU's 49 total winners. In the third set alone, which NJCU won, 26-24, Arslani did much of the damage with nine of NJCU's 13 kills and the rookie hit .667 with nine kills (9-1-12).
 
In the second Skyline match on January 28, an experienced Ramapo College team defeated NJCU, 3-0 in three close sets, but Arslani impressed, as he pounded a match-high 15 kills. He added two aces and three assists, hitting .118 (15-11-34) with one solo block.
 
In his first career match, a 3-0 Skyline sweep at Polytechnic Institute of New York University on January 23, Arslani did not disappoint, hammering a match-high 14 kills (14-4-20) with a .500 attack percentage, six digs and one solo block. The 14 kills were the most by an NJCU player in a season opener since current head coach Kevin Rodgers slugged 14 kills in 2008. Meanwhile, the 14 kills are the most by a Gothic Knight rookie in a career-debut during the rally scoring era and the most in a match of any structure since Jose Martinez slammed 25 kills against the City College of New York on January 18, 2000.
 
On January 25 in a 3-0 non-conference home win over York (NY), Arslani slammed a match-high 14 kills for the second straight match to open his career.  He hit .231 (14-8-26) with five digs and three aces.
 
After week one, NJCU ranks third as a team in the Skyline in kills (11.43), assists (10.64), hitting percentage (.222), opponent hitting percentage (.156), and service aces (1.71) and lists fourth in digs (8.86).
 
“I still think he's making that transition,” said Rodgers of Arslani's first week as a collegiate player. “He definitely performed well this week. He still needs to work on a lot of small things in order to get better and get to that next stage which he wants to get to and he's working hard to do it.”