FAIRFIELD, Conn. - The Sacred Heart University men's volleyball team earned its first EIVA win of the season, defeating NJIT 3-1 Friday evening at home. The win improves the Pioneers to 2-7 overall and 1-3 in the EIVA, while the Highlanders fall to 4-6 on the year and 0-2 in EIVA play.

Tom Wisniewski led the Pioneers with a game-high 10 kills. Noah Richetti led SHU with a game-high 39 assists, while Blake Cox recorded a game-high 17 digs in the loss.

The Pioneers return to action on Saturday, Feb. 23, when they play host to Princeton in an EIVA matchup at 4 p.m.

First Set: SHU 25, NJIT 19

• The teams battled to an early 8-8 tie

• The Pioneers went on a 6-2 run, capped by a Taylor Bloomquist kill to give SHU a 14-10 lead

• After SHU pushed its lead to 19-12, the Highlanders cut the deficit to 22-18

• The Pioneers closed the set taking three of the next four points to secure the 25-19 set win

Second Set: NJIT 25, SHU 21

• The two sides played to an 8-8 tie

• Back-to-back kills from Jakob Karlsson gave SHU a 10-8 lead

• After NJIT battled back to tie the contest at 14-14, the two sides went back and forth to an 18-18 tie

• NJIT closed the set with a 7-3 run to take it 25-21

Third Set: SHU 25, NJIT 9

• The Pioneers opened the set with a 5-0 run before NJIT called timeout

• After the Highlanders cut the SHU lead to 12-6, the Pioneers went on 9-0 run to increase its lead to 21-8

• NJIT broke the run with a point, but the Pioneers closed the set with a 4-0 run capped by a Tom Wisniewski and Bloomquist block

Fourth Set: SHU 26, NJIT 24

• NJIT opened the set with a 5-0 run, forcing a SHU timeout

• The Pioneers responded with an 11-3 run to take an 11-8 lead

• After the Highlanders came back to tie the contest at 14-14, the Pioneers went on a 3-0 run to take a 17-14 lead

• With the score tied at 21-21, the Pioneers went on a 3-0 run to hold a 24-21 lead

• The Highlanders responded by tying the contest at 24-24 before SHU closed with a kill from Emerson Waumans, followed by an NJIT attack error to win the match

By The Numbers

• SHU finished with 17 blocks in the match, with Rob Chatteron leading the way with five for the Pioneers

• The Pioneers hit .245 for the match

• Ricchetti handed out 39 of the Pioneers 41 assists

• Alvaro Gimeno led NJIT with 10 kills

• The Highlanders hit .114 for the contest