UNION, N.J. (3/6/16) – The Kean University men's volleyball team announced its intention to return to the national rankings with a rousing 3-1 defeat of No. 7 Dominican University at home on Sunday. The Cougars also downed York (N.Y.) College earlier in the day, have now won 14 matches in a row and run their record to 19-5 on the year.
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The Dominican Stars (12-6) maintained an early lead, taking the first set from the Cougars 25-22. Kean rallied and trounced the Stars in the second 25-12 to even the match. The Cougars hit a match-high .351 in the second, while Dominican did their worst at -.086. Kean also sided out on 12-of-13 opportunities.
The score in the third set bounced back and forth. After a rejuvenating Cougar time out and three subsequent Star attack errors, the score was tied at 23. Four plays later, Tommy Rosario evened the set at 25 with a kill assisted by Steve Schrank. Kean took the lead after a powerful block from Jacob Kauffman and Rosario, staggering the Stars and forcing them into a time out.
Dominican came out of the time out with a kill to once again knot the score at 26, but could not follow through; a service error and an attack error awarded Kean the two points needed to win the set 28-26.
The fourth set was again a tight affair, and was knotted at 25-25. After a service ace from Schrank, the Cougars clinched their win with an emphatic game-ending solo block by Shayron Taylor.
Bill Fischer led the Cougars in kills with 14. Kauffman was not far behind with 13 kills, and a solid line of two aces, a solo block and four block assists. Rosario hit .500, recording 12 kills, three solo blocks and combining on seven blocks. Nick Breslin and Jared Warner contributed 13 digs each. Taylor and Warner also got in on the block action, combining for three block assists.
Dominican's Jeremy Royko recorded 17 kills and 11 digs, followed by Luke Spicer with 15 kills.
The Cougars also took three-straight sets from York College, 25-8, 25-6, 25-18 on Sunday.
Nicholas Buseski led the Cougars with 11 kills, a .786 hitting percentage and a solo block on the match. Kevin Barrow began the second set with 11 continuous serves, three of which were aces.
The Cougars combined for 13 services aces against York, which fell to 8-11 on the year.
George Akeem and Larry Moore led the Cardinals with five kills apiece.
The Cougars will travel to Lake Wales, Florida to take on Cincinnati Christian University and Warner University on Wednesday, March 9th at 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.
