Mahwah, NJ: The Ramapo College men's volleyball team opened the 2008 season today at the Bradley Center going 3-0 defeating Villa Julie, 3-1 (30-25, 30-19, 29-31, 30-20), Baruch, 3-0 (30-26, 30-23, 30-17), and Newbury, 3-1 (28-30, 30-28, 30-11, 30-28). Newbury went 2-1 on the day while Baruch finished 1-2, and Villa Julie, 0-3.

Match 1, Court 1: Ramapo 3 - Villa Julie 1: 30-25, 30-19, 29-31, 30-20
The Roadrunners fell behind in the opening points of game one but after settling in slid past the Mustangs, 30-25 to go up one game to none. The Roadrunners combined for 15 kills hitting .290. Senior opposite Brendan Whitford (Lyndhurst, NJ) led the team with five kills and Elvis Cabrera (Clifton, NJ) and Shane Donohue (Freehold, NJ) each added three in the win. Jairo Sierra (Fair Lawn, NJ) dished out 12 assists and Whitford and Matt Whitford (Lyndhurst, NJ) led the defense with three digs apiece. Dan Phillips (Street, MD) led the Mustangs with four kills and John Hall (Bel Air, MD) assisted on 11 points.

Ramapo took game two, 30-19, behind five kills from Donohue and three from B. Whitford. Sierra dished out 11 assists and added two digs. The Roadrunners killed 13 balls as a team on 20 attempts hitting .500. Alex Ness (Jarrettsville, MD) hit down three balls for Villa Julie in the loss. The Mustangs improved on game one's hitting going 9-24 with six errors, .125.

Villa Julie walked away with a game three victory hitting .189 behind Ramapo's .222. The Mustangs combined for 16 kills to Ramapo's 14, but the Roadrunners' 20 errors cost them the game three loss, 31-29. Phillips hit down six kills and Anthony Cammarata (Fallston, MD) dished out a team high 13 assists. Rookie Matt Scott (Edison, NJ) dished out ten assists and Sierra and Donohue led the way with three digs each.

Ramapo hit .296 in game four taking the game, 30-20 for the 3-1 match victory. The Mustangs hit .107 with 11 kills on 28 attempts with eight errors. Donohue led the team with four kills and B. Whitford and Cabrera added three each. Dan Sempkowski (East Brunswick, NJ) recorded a team leading three digs in the game. Ness led Villa Julie with three kills.

On the match, Donohue finished with 16 kills and B. Whitford wrapped up the match with 13 of his own hitting .588. TC Elsasser (Barnegat, NJ) killed ten and Sierra dished out a team leading 36 assists. Sempkowski and M. Whitford led the team's defense with seven kills each. Elsasser recorded 11 assisted and three solo blocks in the win. Phillips finished the match with 14 kills and Ness added ten. The team hit .088 in the match while Ramapo finished hitting .314.

Match 1, Court 2: Newbury 3 – Baruch 1: 30-24, 36-38, 30-25, 30-23
Newbury's Erik Kostanski (Hampden, MA) led the offensive attack with 14 kills and while posting eight digs. Bryan McDermandt (Palatine, IL) and Mark Thomas (Wilbraham, MA) each contributed ten kills while Nick Horrocks (New Bedford, MA) led the defense with 14 digs. McDermandt added 11 and dished out six assists in the win. The Bearcats were led by Danial Levent (Forest Hills, NY) with 19 kills and 13 digs while Radek Wyrwas (Poland) dished out a team high 41 assists.

Match 2, Court 1: Ramapo 3 – Baruch 3: 30-26, 30-23, 30-17
The Roadrunners took game one, 30-26 of their second match-up of the day facing Baruch College. Ramapo's B. Whitford led the way with six kills and Donohue added five of his own. Sierra contributed 17 assists and Sempkowski led the defense with five digs. Levent led Baruch with five kills and Wyrwas dished out nine assists.

The Roadrunners were led by Elsasser in game two posting a seven point, 30-23 victory. Elsasser led the offensive attack with five kills while Sierra contributed 13 assists and Sempkowski led the defense with five digs. Levent posted five kills for the Bearcats and Wyrwas dished out seven assists.

In game three, rookie Jeff Elsasser (Barnegat, NJ) led the team with five kills and Donohue added four. Sophomore setter Matt Scott (Edison, NJ) contributed 16 assists and Sempkowski and Donohue combined for six digs. Wyrwas dished out seven assists for the Bearcats.

Ramapo finished the match hitting .432 with 55 kills on 95 attempts. The team committed 14 hitting errors in the match. J. Elsasser wrapped up the win recording 11 kills and Sierra and Scott combined for 46 assists. Sempkowski led the defense with 13 digs and Donohue added eight. Baruch's Levent recorded 13 kills and Wyrwas contributed 23 assists.

Match 2, Court 2: Newbury 3 – Villa Julie 1: 30-21, 30-23, 26-30, 30-21
McDermandt led the Nighthawks to their second win of the day defeating Villa Julie in four. McDermandt recorded 13 kills and posted seven digs while dishing out five assists. Jay Neveu (Riverside, RI) posted 11 kills while digging seven balls and posting three blocks and three service aces. The team's defense was led by Horrock with 14 digs in the win. Hall finished the match with 38 assists and three kills while Ness added nine kills and eight digs for Villa Julie. JR Jackson (Havre De Grace, MD) led the team's attack with 15 kills. He also added two blocks and four digs in the loss.

Match 3, Court 1: Ramapo 3 – Newbury 1: 28-30, 30-28, 30-11, 30-28
The Roadrunners dropped game one, 30-28 to Newbury in the third match-up of the day, 30-28. Newbury's McDermandt and Neveu combined for ten kills and Matthew Talamantes (Sylmar, CA) dished out 17 assists. The Roadrunners were led by Cabrera on offensive and Sierra and Donohue on the defense. Cabrera posted six kills and Sempkowski recorded five digs. Ramapo hit .256 going 18-43 with seven errors while Newbury hit 19-42 with five errors, .333.

Ramapo fought back in game two and posted a 30-28 victory to tie the match at one game each. Elsasser led the way with six kills and B. Whitford added four. Sierra contributed 17 assists and J. Elsasser led the defense with four digs. Newbury was led by Neveu with three kills and Talamantes dished out seven assists. Ramapo hit .227 with 19 kill on 44 attempts with nine errors while Newbury went 8-28 with eight errors hitting .000.

The Roadrunners hit .581 in game three taking a one game, 2-1 lead, 30-11. Newbury hit -.042 with their leader hitting only two balls down. Donohue recorded eight kills and J. Elsasser recorded five of his own. Sierra dished out 19 assists and Sempkowski recorded five digs.

Donohue posted five kills in game four and Sierra dished out 12 assists taking the game, 30-28. McDermandt led the Nighthawks with four kills and the team combined for 11 in the loss. Newbury hit .471 while the Roadrunners hit .303. The team went 18-33 with eight errors.

In the match, Donohue recorded a team high 19 kills and Cabrera and J. Elsasser added 14 each. Sierra finished the night with 64 assists and Sempkowski led the defense with 11 digs. Ramapo combined for 76 kills hitting .325 while Newbury went 43-111 with 22 errors hitting .189. McDermandt finished with 12 kills in the loss.

Match 3, Court 2: Baruch 3 – Villa Julie 2: 25-30, 30-25, 30-32, 30-22, 15-10
Baruch posted their first win of the season defeating Villa Julie, 3-2 in match three. Levent posted 28 kills and Wyrvas doshed out 49 assists in the win. Levent also added five blocks and ten digs while Wyrvas recorded nine kills. Villa Julie was led by Jackson with 20 kills, Ness recorded 12, and Phillips put down 11 in the loss. Ness led the team with 24 digs.

The Roadrunners return to action on January 24th when they travel to Medgar Evers for a non-conference match-up at 7:00 PM