The Sacred Heart Men’s Volleyball team lost to NJIT in four sets on Apr. 18 in Newark, New Jersey, concluding their Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) regular season at the Joel & Diane Bloom Wellness & Events Center.
The match saw Sacred Heart take early leads in both the first and second sets, with strong performances from Aleksa Mandic, Petr Beranek, and Jack Krausz. Despite holding a 19-17 advantage late in the opening set after a kill by Krausz, Sacred Heart was unable to hold off NJIT’s late surge as the Highlanders closed on an 8-2 run to win the set 25-21.
In the second set, Sacred Heart again led early thanks to balanced offense and an ace from Aaron Johnson. However, NJIT responded with another comeback and took control late in the set following several SHU attack errors. The Highlanders secured a 25-20 victory to go up two sets.
Facing elimination in straight sets, Sacred Heart rebounded strongly in the third frame. Mandic, Johnson, and Krausz powered an offensive push that gave them a commanding lead throughout. The Pioneers finished off the set comfortably at 25-15.
NJIT started quickly again in set four with a strong serving run by Daniel Latkowski. While Sacred Heart managed to tie things up midway through at 11-all behind defensive plays from Johnson and Krausz, NJIT pulled away late with kills from Wiktor Nowak. The Highlanders clinched both the final set (25-22) and match victory.
With this result closing out their regular season schedule, Sacred Heart will next travel to Penn State for the first round of the EIVA Tournament where they are scheduled to face #4 University of Charleston at Rec Hall.
