CHARLESTON, W. Va. - The University of Charleston Men's Volleyball team dropped their home opener on Friday to the Highlanders from NJIT in four sets, losing 3-1. After dropping the opening set, the Highlanders stormed back to win the next three and take the match. Charleston was led by Maarten Bartels and Arthur Sueur, who both had ten kills while Ismael Sneed added six blocks in the match.

JUST THE BASICS
SCORE: Charleston: 1 NJIT: 3
LOCATION: Charleston, W. Va – Wehrle Innovation Center 
TEAM RECORDS: Charleston (2-3, 2-3 EIVA) NJIT (4-3, 4-1 EIVA)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Golden Eagles got off to a strong start, playing very even back-and-forth volleyball with the Highlanders through the first half of the opening set, with Charleston holding a narrow 13-12 advantage. After winning six of the next seven points, Charleston was able to take their largest lead of the set at 19-13. Trailing 24-18, NJIT was able to make things interesting for a minute, winning three straight points to decrease their deficit to just three. The set ended in Charleston's favor after Ian Barker recorded a kill to give the Golden Eagles an early 1-0 advantage.
 
In the first set, the Highlanders played well below their season average in hitting percentage (.071%) while the Golden Eagles powered to hit .261%. Charleston led the advantage in errors, as NJIT had ten to Charleston's four.
 
The second set saw Charleston take an early 7-3 lead but NJIT quickly went on an 8-2 run to regain the lead at 11-10. With the set tied at 17 all, the Highlanders were able to take seven of the next nine points and the set, 25-19.
 
Set three went back-and-forth, but NJIT once again used an 8-3 run to take a 20-12 lead in the set. After two unanswered points by Charleston which included a kill from Sueur, the Highlanders scored five of the next seven points which was capped off by a Luca Berger kill to give NJIT the set (25-16), and a 2-1 advantage.
 
Despite a hard-fought fourth set and trailing 4-0 early, the deficit was too much to overcome as the Highlanders took the final set 25-17.
 
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:
Alvaro Gimeno led the way for the Highlanders with 15 kills and a .370 hitting percentage. Bartels led the way for the Golden Eagles as he was able to record 10 kills, along with Sueur. Diego Villafane had 33 assists in the game along with two digs. Sueur led the way for Charleston, recording a .350 hitting percentage.

UP NEXT:
Charleston will return to action tomorrow afternoon, taking on the Highlanders once again with match time set for 3:00 PM at the Wehrle Innovation Center.