After a regular season that included many ups and downs for first-year coach Fernando Colon, the men’s volleyball team surged into the playoffs, winning eight of their last nine matches. The Roadrunners were able to climb all the way up the Skyline standings to clinch the No. 3 seed in the playoffs, where they got set to face Sarah Lawrence College in the first round.
The Roadrunners had success against the Gryphons in the regular season, sweeping the season series 2-0 with 3-1 and 3-0 victories, and Tuesday’s first-round match proved no different. Though Sarah Lawrence was able to keep the first set relatively close for the first few points, Ramapo closed the set scoring eight of the final 11 points to make it 25-14.
The Gryphons were able to keep the second set much closer, with it being tied at 16 midway through the frame. After some more back-and-forth action, the Roadrunners won four of the final five points to clinch the set and take a 2-0 lead heading into the third.
Ramapo got out to another hot start in the third period, going up 5-1 before Sarah Lawrence needed a timeout. After the pause, the Gryphons got close but never within less than two against the Roadrunners for the remainder of the set. Ramapo closed out the game with five consecutive points, taking the set 25-18 and sealing the 3-0 win, setting up a date with New Jersey City University (NJCU) in the semifinals.
Reece Kirchofer led the Roadrunners with 12 kills, while Jan Tracz and Brady Cascone weren’t far off with 10 each. JoJo Meyer, who is top five all time in assists in Ramapo history, had 34 in the game, while the only other player to record at least one assist was libero Sean McNally with two. Kirchofer, Cascone, Caleb Ford and Ryan Westrich each recorded two aces in the effort as well.
Prior to the game, Meyer was met at center court by Skyline Conference Commissioner Melissa Reilly where he received the Elite 19 Award, which is awarded to the player with the highest GPA in the conference. Meyer, the team’s captain, finished the season with a 3.989 GPA.
On Thursday, Ramapo headed south to Jersey City where they took on No. 2 NJCU with a trip to the championship on the line. The Roadrunners struggled in their regular season action against the Gothic Knights, falling in both matchups 3-1.
The Roadrunners got out to as good of a start as they could have asked for, taking the first set 27-25, taking four of the final five points to close out the set and go up 1-0. Jersey City answered back in the second set however, narrowly taking it 25-23 thanks to a 4-2 run to end the frame and tying the match at 1-1.
NJCU then dominated the third set, taking it 25-15, highlighted by a run in the middle of the frame where the Gothic Knights took eight of nine straight points. Needing to dig themselves out a 2-1 hole, Ramapo battled back in a tightly contested fourth set, where a couple of kills by Cascone sealed the frame at 25-23, forcing a decisive fifth set.
Ramapo found themselves down 8-2 after the first 10 points of the set, and from that point on, the Roadrunners ran out of firepower, falling to NJCU 15-9 in the final set, ending their Skyline season. Kirchofer was phenomenal for Ramapo in the 3-2 loss, posting 24 kills and 12 digs, while Cascone added 20 kills of his own along with six digs.
Ramapo will now partake in the Eastern College Athletic Conference playoffs, where they will be the No. 4 seed and travel on Saturday to face No. 1 Rutgers-Newark University. On the other side of the bracket, No. 2 NJCU will face off against No. 3 Hunter College.
wjackso2@ramapo.edu
Featured photo by Peter Bonilla
