Mahwah, NJ:  The Ramapo College men's volleyball team opened the 2010 season today shutting out the Hawks of Hunter College, 3-0, before adding a second shut out over the Nighthawks of Newbury College.  Rookie Steve Vahalla (Bloomfield, NJ) led all Roadrunners with 26 kills on the day, while Kevin McNerney (Bayonne, NJ) paced the defense with 24 digs.

Match 1:  Ramapo 3 vs. Hunter 0 (30-13, 30-26, 30-20)
Junior Jeff Elsasser (Barnegat, NJ) led Ramapo in game one over the Hawks as the team hit a combined 16-27 (.519) for a 30-13 victory.  Matt Scott (Edison, NJ) dished out 15 assists and rookie Vahalla led the defense with four digs.  Vahalla added four kills in the win.  Eric Barty (Jamaica, NY) led Hunter with three kills as the team went 7-28 (-.036) with eight errors.  Sophomore Paul Konopacki (Monroe Twp., NJ) led Ramapo with five kills in game two leading the team to a 30-26 victory.  Vahalla and Elsasser added four kills each while the team combined for 17 with only four errors on 27 attempts hitting .481.  Scott added 16 assists.  Barty and Marcin Polak (Brooklyn, NY) each contributed four kills for Hunter.  The team went 9-28 with five errors hitting .143.  The final game of the match went to Ramapo, 30-20, behind three kills each from Elsasser and junior Matt Whitford (Lyndhurst, NJ).  Ramapo went 13-25 (.480) with only one error while Hunter combined for 12 kills on 31 attempts with ten errors (.065).  Barty led the Hawks with six kills in the final game of the best-out-of-five match-up.  For the match, Elsasser tallied 12 kills and Konopacki and Vahalla recorded 11 and ten respectively.  The team hit down 46 kills combined with seven errors on 79 attempts (.494).  Scott dished out 42 assists and McNerney led the defense with 14 digs.  Vahalla completed his first double-double of his collegiate career with 12 digs.  Barty finished with a team high 13 kills for the Hawks.

Match 2:  Hunter 3  vs. Newbury 2 (26-30, 30-22, 28-30, 31-29, 15-11)
Hunter came out on top in the second match of the day over the Nighthawks of Newbury College, 3-2.  Barty led the way with 33 of the team's 81 kills hitting .356 while the team hit .312 in the match.  Christopher Newcomb (Hawaii) recorded 22 kills of his own while Brendan Feng (Jackson Heights, NY) dished out a team high 56 assists.  Sam Martin contributed a team leading 11 digs and Braien Otsla (Brooklyn, NY) put down five assisted blcoks.  The team went 81-157 with 32 errors.  Mark Thomas (Wilbraham, MA) led Newbury College hitting .370 with 29 kills on 54 attempts and nine errors, while James Beck (Havre de Grace, MD) and Matt Talamantes (Sylmar, CA) recorded ten and 11 kills respectively.  The team recorded 59 kills with 28 errors on 147 attempts hitting .211 in the loss.  Talamantes dished out 44 assists and Beck led the team's defense with nine digs.

Match 3:  Ramapo vs. Newbury (30-23, 30-26, 30-19)
In the final match of the day, game one went to Ramapo over Newbury, 30-23, as the team hit a combined .455 with 19 kills and four errors on 33 attempts. Vahalla led the way with six kills while Scott contributed 18 assists in the win.  Elsasser recorded four digs and Scott added three.  Newbury was led by Thomas and Talamantes with four kills each while the team put away 14 kills hitting .265 with five errors on 34 attempts.  Talamantes dished out 12 assists and Beck contributed three digs.  Elsasser put away four kills and Vahalla and Elvis Cabrera (Clifton, NJ) each added three leading the Roadrunners to a game two, 30-26 win.  The team hit .161 behind a .265 hitting performance from Newbury.  Thomas led the Nighthawks with six kills and Talamantes dished out 13 assists.  McNerney led the Roadrunners with five digs.  The Roadrunners shut out the day with a game three, 30-19 win to take the match in three straight.  Vahalla added seven kills and Cabrera chipped in four.  Scott added 12 assists in the win while the team combined for 13 kill.  Thomas recorded three kills for Newbury in the game.  Ramapo talllied 46 kills on 93 attempts with 17 errors hitting .312, led by Vahalla with 16 kills.  Cabrera added 11 kills and Scott recorded 43 assists in the match.  McNerney led the defense with ten digs and Scott and Cabrera recorded four total blocks.  Thomas led Newbury with 13 kills while the team hit 41-104 with 22 errors going .183 in the loss.  Talamantes dished out 36 assists and added five digs while Beck led the way with six digs.

The Roadrunners return to action on Friday, January 22nd when they host Rivier, Sacred Heart, and PBU at the Bill commencing at 8pm.