Mahwah, NJ: The Ramapo College men's volleyball team opened up the 2009 season with a 3-2 victory over the Hunter College Hawks, (30-22, 30-32, 26-30, 30-20, 15-7).
Senior
Shane Donohue (Freehold, NJ) led the Roadrunners with 20 kills while senior
TC Elsasser (Barnegat, NJ) tallied 16 kills on 25 attempts hitting .480 in the match while adding two solo blocks for ten blocks in the match.
Rookie
Colin McNeill (Little Falls, NJ) finished with 14 kills on 18 attempts for a .722 hitting percentage and added five blocks. Senior
Tom Kohler (East Brunswick, NJ) finished with nine kills and five blocks. Senior
Jairo Sierra (Fair Lawn, NJ) posted 54 assists and one service ace. Ramapo recorded a .415 hitting percentage for the match to Hunter's .286.
Four players recorded double digit kills for the Hawks in the loss. Wojciech Jakubiak (Poreba, Poland) finished the game with a team high 29 kills while adding 11 assists and 11 digs. Zacarais Ripoll (Puerto Plata, DR) posted 16 kills while Jerin Kallickal (Kerala, India) and Eric Barty (Jamaica, NY) added 13 and 11 kills respectively.
In match two against Newbury College, Ramapo once again came out on top in a 3-2 victory, (30-24, 23-30, 33-31, 28-30, 15-13). Ramapo now stands at 2-0 on the season.
Donohue led the way for Ramapo with 21 kills. Three other Roadrunners posted double digit kills, Elsasser added 17 while McNeill added 16 and Kohler posted 14. Sierra recorded 59 assists in the victory. Kohler posted nine blocks while sophomore
Matt Whitford (Lyndhurst, NJ) added five blocks and eight kills. Senior
Dan Sempkowski (East Brunswick, NJ) recorded eight digs in the match. Ramapo hit .329 in the match while the Hawks hit .316.
Matt Talamantes (Sylmar, CA) posted 66 assists in the match with eight digs and one block while Mark Thomas (Wilbraham, MA) recorded a match high 36 kills on 55 attempts. He also added eight blocks and two digs while Bryan McDermand (Palatine, IL) posted 24 kills and four blocks.
The Roadrunners return to action on January 23rd when they host Rivier College at 8:00 PM.
