NEWARK, N.J. (February 12, 2015)—Enzo Mackenzie (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) led the Sacred Heart Men's volleyball team to its first Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association win of the 2015 season over NJIT 3-1 with 20 kills on Thursday night. The senior hit .517 leading the Pioneers to their best hitting percentage of the season, .383, in large part due to Eduardo Zardo's (Basilia, Brazil) 50 assists, as they move to 3-5 on the season and 1-1 in conference play.

SHU jumped out to an early 2-0 lead behind a kill from Austin Arcala (Long Beach, Calif.) and a Chris DeLucie (Manalapan, N.J.) ace in the first set. That would prove to be the only lead they would need to take the set as the Highlanders never recovered. Up 15-9, Mackenzie smashed a kill sparking a six-point SHU run that gave the Pioneers a commanding lead at 21-9. NJIT earned five more points but Mackenzie clinched the game for the Pioneers 25-16.

A NJIT attack error to start the second set once again gave the Pioneers a quick lead, and it soon seemed like the set was going just like the first, but the Highlanders used a 5-1 streak to knot the game at 10 and take their first lead of the match, 11-10. Sacred Heart chipped away, but NJIT held on to the lead heading towards the end of the set. Late in the game, SHU used a Mackenzie kill and two NJIT errors to reclaim the lead 23-22. The teams traded points sending the set into extra points. With the game time at 26, a Pioneer attack error and a double-block from the Highlanders gave NJIT to set 28-26 leveling the match.

NJIT took the opening point of the third set with a service ace from TJ Jurko, but the Pioneers answered with a three-point run featuring a kill by Arcala. SHU maintained their lead throughout the majority of the set despite the Highlanders tying the score on five occasions. With the score even at 18, NJIT used a triple-block to stop a Mackenzie attack to take the lead 19-18. They improved their lead to 21-19 before DeLucie and Travis Vonholt (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) combined for three straight kills to put the Pioneers back on top leading them to the 25-22 win.

Sacred Heart took the final set in dramatic fashion, 26-24, pushing to extra points after the teams exchanged the lead four times.

The Pioneers are back in action on Saturday at Princeton at 7:00 p.m.