ATLANTIC CITY, N.J.- In their third and final match at the "JBJ Battle 4 the Boardwalk", FDU utilized an efficient offensive performance to sweep St. Thomas Aquinas and earned their second-straight win. The Knights finish their weekend in Atlantic City with a record of 2-1.
The Knights boasted a strong hitting percentage of .354, while holding the Spartans to 23 kills and forcing them into 19 attack errors. Offensively,
Jack Lydon and
Jamal Ellis Carballo led the way with 11 kills apiece. This marks the third-straight match to open the season in which Ellis Carballo recorded double-digit kills. Dating back to last year, it is his tenth-straight game with ten or more kills and the 17
th in his career.
Santiago La Jara totaled four rejections and
Grady Hoffman collected eight digs in the Knights' stout defensive effort. FDU tallied eight blocks total.
St. Thomas Aquinas led by as many as three in the early stages of the first set, but the Knights stormed back and put together a 6-0 run, which was ignited by a
Rayjan Suarez Palacios kill, that gave them a 14-10 lead. From there the Knights held off the Spartans on their way to a 25-18 first set victory.
In the second set, FDU leapt out to a 5-0 lead and never looked back. Their lead steadily grew until it reached 13 when
Lorenzo Bonomo finished off the set with a kill to close it out 25-12. FDU trailed 12-10 in set number three, but utilized a 5-0 spurt that swung back momentum for good. They won the set 25-20 and completed the sweep.
Ethan Young stuffed the stat sheet with six kills, four aces, and two digs. His service pressure set the tone for a Knights team that totaled nine aces.
FDU is now above .500 for the first time in 2024. This win marked their first sweep of the season. In 2023, the team put together three sweeps.
What's Next
The Knights will play two games in Rochester next week as they take on Roberts Wesleyan in a back-to-back that kicks off Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Thursday's edition begins at 6 p.m. It is the first time that these programs will do battle.
