Mahwah, NJ:  Ramapo men's volleyball fell short to Division I Sacred Heart University in the opening match of the day, 3-1, before losing a tough, 3-2 match-up with PBU.  The Roadrunners fall to 2-3 on the year.  Rivier defeated PBU, 3-1 in their first match-up, while earning a 3-2 victory over SHU in their second match to improve to 6-0 on the year.  SHU stands at 1-3 overall and PBU improves to 3-1.

Court #1:  Sacred Heart defeated Ramapo, 3-1
Ramapo fell short in game one, 30-23, hitting a combined .257 with 13 kiils on 35 attempts with fours errors.  Ramapo handed SHU eight points on eight service errors.  SHU recorded two more kills in the game with 15, but committed seven errors on 33 attempts going .242 in the win.  In game two, the Pioneers held the lead the entire game until a kill from rookie Kevin Froehlich (Ringwood, NJ) tied the game at 27.  The Roadrunners first lead cam at 28-27 with assisted blocks from rookie Brett Greiner (East Northport, NY) and sophomore Paul Konopacki (Monroe Twp., NJ), before a kill from Greiner gave Ramapo a 29-27 edge.  SHU scored point 28 before put the game away with his sixth kill of the game.  Ramapo hit .225 with 16 kills and SHU went 15-41 with six errors hitting .220.  SHU flew through game three defeating Ramapo , 30-19, for a 2-1 match lead.  SHU recorded 14 kills as a team hitting .355, while Ramapo hit a low .048 with 13 kills and 11 errors.  The Roadrunners fell just short in game four, 31-29, after holding a lead the entire game until a 29-29 tie.  SHU was behind 26-29 and scored five straight points to take the game and the match, 3-1.  Ramapo hit .075 in the game and SHU hit .048  Ramapo recorded just two more kills with 14, Ramapo tallied 12.  Froehlich led the way with a team high 14 kills while Greiner added 13 in the loss.  Matt Scott (Edison, NJ) dished out 46 assists and led the defense, along with defensive specialist Kurt Backlund (Old Bridge, NJ), with 15 digs apiece.  The Roadrunners combined for 56 kills on 157 attempts with 33 errors hitting .146 on the day.  SHU went 56-147 with 26 errors hitting .204, led by 18 kills from Roger Parent (Burlington, CT).  Kalani Efstathiou (Beaverton, OR) recorded 14 kills and Tim Sadowski (Salem, NH) recorded 46 assists.  Scott Grandpre (East Greenwich, RI) recorded a team high 19 digs.


Court #2:  Rivier defeated PBU, 3-1
After falling behind 6-1 at the start of the game, PBU fought back to come within two, 7-9.  Rivier held a slight edge until point 23, when PBU pushed to take the lead, 25-23.  Rivier scored three straight points to again gain the lead, 26-25, and never looked back taking the game, 30-28.  Rivier recorded 17 kills hitting .189 as a team, while PBU hit .162 with 13 kills.  The two teams traded points in the second game of the match-up until the very end when Rivier made a push to take the game 33-31, going up two games to none over PBU.  The Raiders recorded a combined 22 kills hitting .459 as a team, while PBU hit .256 with 15 total kills.  PBU took game three, 30-27 behind 15 combined kills hitting .214.  Rivier matched the Crimson Eagles in kills with 16, but out hit in percentage going .243 in the loss.  Rivier breezed through game four walking away with a 30-21 win for the match victory.  The Raiders hit a combined .458 with 13 kills and PBU posted 13 kills hitting .100 in the game four loss.  Jared Andreozzi (Barrington, RI) led the Raiders with 25 kills while adding nine digs in the match and Zach Hansen (Shelton, CT) led the defense with 14 digs, dishing out a team high 60 assists.  Justin Brubaker (Telford, PA) led the Crimson Eagles with 21 kills and five service aces.  Leandro Dueck (Lititz, PA) led the team with 14 digs and Brubaker added ten, while Drew Dillon (Mount Joy, PA) contributed 54 assists.

Court #1:  PBU defeated Ramapo, 3-2
In game one of Ramapo's second match-up of the day, the Crimson Eagles of PBU came out on top, 30-21 behind a combined ten kills going .304.  Ramapo hit .150 with 16 kills on 40 attempts and ten errors.  The Roadrunners committed seven service errors in the loss.  Ramapo bounced back in game two, 30-23, behind 14 kills with only six hitting errors on 27 attempts (.296), while PBU went 11-35 with nine errors hitting .057 in the loss.  The two teams battled it out in game three, with the Roadrunners coming out on top, 48-46.  Ramapo put away 24 kills hitting .180 while PBU hit .063 putting away 21 kills of their own.  The Crimson Eagles again tied the match-up with a game four, 30-22 win, before taking game five, 15-11.  Brubaker recorded a team leading 24 kills and Dueck added 23, while Dillon dished 55 assists.  Brubaker led the way with 12 digs and Dillon added 11 to the mix.  The team hit a combined .211 with 69 kills on 166 attempts and 34 errors.  Jeff Elsasser (Barnegat, NJ) led Ramapo with 16 kills and Greiner and Froehlich chipped in 15 and 14 respectively.  Scott finished the match with 65 assists and Backlund led the defense with 17 digs.  Ramapo hit .200 combining for 76 kills.

Court #2:  Rivier defeated Sacred Heart, 3-2
Rivier came out with a 31-29 win in the first game of the match before SHU came through in the second game tying up the match, 1-1.  The Pioneers took game two, 30-27 and Rivier bounced back for a game three, 30-24 victory and again SHU tied up the series with a 30-23 win in game four.  Rivier pulled out the match with a 15-10 game five win.  Hansen dished out 65 assists for the Raiders while the team's offensive attck was led by Andreozzi with 24 kills.  Parent led the Pioneers with 20 kills and Efstathiou added 14 in the matc.  Craig Harvey (Beverly, MA) and Nicholas Hunt (Uniondale, NY) contributed 12 and nine kills respectively.

The Roadrunners return to action on Wednesday, February 3rd when they face off with NECVA Metro rival, New Jersey City University, at 7pm at the Bradley Center.  Rivier College hosts Emerson and Mt. Ida at 6&8pm on January 27th while PBU travels to Stevens at 7pm on the same night.  Sacred Heart University travels to Springfield College on January 26th for a 6pm match-up.