Jersey City, NJ – The Sage Colleges' men's volleyball team travelled to New Jersey to face a pair of Skyline Conference opponents on the campus of New Jersey City University. Sage opened the afternoon posting a 3-0 win over NYU-Poly in the opener (25-12, 25-14, 25-14). The Gators then posted a 3-0 win over the host Gothic Knights (25-19, 25-21, 25-20). The Gators improve to 6-1 on the year with a 2-0 record in the Skyline Conference.
In the Gators' Skyline opener, Sage swept NYU-Poly, 3-0 (25-12, 25-14, 25-14), as the Gators posted a .333 team attack with 31 kills and only nine errors (66 attempts). Sage uncorked an incredible 19 service aces in three games, led by sophomore outside Andy Fishman (Cornwallville, NY/Cairo-Durham)with nine aces.
Senior middle hitter Spencer Hilland (Slingerlands, NY/Bethlehem Central) paced Sage with a .421 percentage, 11 kills (11-3-19) and two blocks. Senior setter Kyle Ray (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) dished 23 assists for a .434 accuracy rate and junior outside Dylan Krowicki (Little Falls, NY/Little Falls) added five kills (5-1-13, .308) and five aces. Junior opposite Scott Fitzgerald (Fort Edwards, NY/Queensbury) contributed five kills (5-2-12, .250).
Against NJCU, the Gators were led by Fishman's 16 kills, while Krowicki and Hilland each had nine kills. Junior libero Cory Gransbury (Round Top, NY/Cairo-Durham) had seven digs in the match to pace the Gators. Ray had 36 setting assists as well and now 1,837 career setting assists to lead the program. Hilland has elevated his career kills to 613 with 329 digs and 158 career blocks.
Fishman was a perfect 18-0 on receptions in the action for a 1.000% reception percentage as the team combined for a .906 reception percentage, while combining for a .307 hitting percentage as well. Krowicki and Fitzgerald added a pair of aces in the action as the Gators combined for seven aces and now have 60 aces in their seven matches played.
The Gators will return to action on February 7 hosting Yeshiva University in a 7 p.m. open Skyline Conference match in the Kahl Gym.
