Mahwah , NJ : The Ramapo College men's volleyball team played host to Polytechnic, Medgar Evers, and Newbury College today at the Bradley Centerin their opening matches of the 2005 season. Ramapo recorded 3-0 shut out victories over Polytechnic and Medgar Evers before dropping a 1-3 decision to Newbury College. Ramapo opens the season at 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association.

Match 1: Ramapo 3 – Polytechnic 1 (30-15, 30-16, 30-20)

Ramapo was led by rookie DAVID ROSS (Perth Amboy, NJ ) who posted 12 kills on 31 attempts in their first victory of the day while fellow rookie BRENDON WHITFORD (Lyndhurst, NJ ) recorded ten kills on 15 attempts with only one error. ROSS added eight digs while recording three service aces and WHITFORD added three total blocks. Junior setter HECTOR RODRIGUEZ (West New York, NJ) dished out a team high 40 assists and ALEX LIKHOVIDOV (Ringwood, NJ) led the defense with nine digs. Zach Emnett of Polytechnic led with 14 assists and Michael Kelly led the team's attack with six kills.

Match 2: Ramapo 3 – Medgar Evers 0 (30-27, 30-23, 30-23)

WHITFORD led the Roadrunners in their second match-up of the day with 12 kills on 23 attempts while ROSS posted 11 kills of his own. JORDAN ROLDAN (Jersey City, NJ) and RODRIGUEZ combined for 37 assists and LIKHOVIDOV led the defense with ten digs in the match. LIKHOVIDOV also recorded nine kills and JERRY ROMAN (West New York, NJ) and KEVIN BIETKA (Flemington, NJ) posted seven and five kills respectively. As a team, the Roadrunners posted 47 kills on 81 attempts with 13 errors hitting .420. For the Cougars of Medgar Evers, Keegan Garcia (Trinidad) posted 16 kills and Andre Edwin (Grenada, WI) added 15 leading the team while Rawle Grogan (Brooklyn, NY) dished out a team high 29 assists.

Match 3: Newbury 3 – Ramapo 1 (30-24, 21-30, 23-30, 23-30)

Newbury's Eril Kostanski (Hampden, MA) and Ken McNeeley (Forest Hill, MD) posted 19 and 16 kills respectively leading the team to their 3rd victory of the year. Setter Brian Goodhind (Springfield, MA) dished out a team high 42 assists while adding five digs in the match-up. Kostanski led the defense with nine digs and Adam Sweeney (Haverhill, MA) and Zac Falconer (Ludlow, MA) added six digs apiece. As a team Newbury recorded 56 kills on 115 attempts with 19 errors for a .322 hitting percentage. For the Roadrunners, 52 kills on 139 attempts with ROSS leading the team with 14 kills. WHITFORD followed with 11 kills and LIKHOVIDOV posted ten of his own. RODRIGUEZ and ROLDAN combined for 46 assists while ROSS and RYAN HOWELL (Bridgewater, NJ) each added seven digs.

Other match-ups: Newbury defeated Medgar Evers, 3-0 (30-15, 30-17, 30-22) with Kostanski leading the way with ten kills, four aces, and five total blocks while Goodhind dished out 30 assists in the win. As a team, Newbury posted 43 kills on 80 attempts with 15 errors. The Nighthawks then dropped Polytechnic, 3-0 (31-29, 30-19, 30-16) led by Kostanski once again with 14 kills and four blocks. McNeeley recorded 11 kills of his own while Goodhind dished-out a team-high 35 assists. As a team, Newbury recorded 13 service aces in the win.

Medgar Evers fell short, 3-0 (20-30, 27-30, 21-30) to Polytechnic posting a 0-3 record for the day. Polytechnic's Kelly led the team with eight kills an Emnett dished out 18 assists in the win. David Furniss led the defense with seven digs.

The Roadrunners will host New Jersey City University on Monday, January 24 for an 8:00 PM start.