ORANGEBURG, N.Y.- The FDU Knights (4-4) secured their first road win of the season in a 3-1 triumph over Dominican (3-9).
Laydon Biro recorded his first career double-double with his 15 kills and 10 digs.
Baboloki Silwane's first kill of the night put the Knights ahead in the first set 3-0. The Chargers fought back to take their first lead of the night 6-5. The teams exchanged points before
Vinil Shah logged a kill and
Jamal Ellis landed a service ace to pur the Knights back ahead 11-9.
FDU ripped off a four point burst, culminated by a pair of aces by
Rayjan Suarez Palacios to increase their lead 17-12. Dominican called a timeout, causing momentum to shift in favor of the Chargers. While down four late, the home squad strung together a five point run to retake the lead 23-22.
The Knights fought back to grab a 26-25 lead before the Chargers landed the last threee points of the set, taking set one 28-26.
The Chargers' momentum appeared to continue, as the home squad took a 5-3 lead early in set two. Shah and Ellis took over by spurring a six point sprint by FDU, with Shah contributing two kills and Ellis delivering two more aces. The Knights led 9-5.
Laydon Biro put FDU ahead 12-6 before Dominican called a timeout. Unlike the first set, the Chargers gathered no momentum as two errors and another Biro kill put FDU ahead 16-9.
The Knights continued to capitalize on errors, as they recorded five of the last seven points in the set to win 25-17
An Andrew Miachel ace coupled with a
Vinil Shah kill put FDU ahead 5-1 in the third set. With the deficit shrunken down 9-7, the tandem of Biro and Ellis put FDU back in front by four, 11-7.
Ellis assisted on a block and recorded an ace in succession to put FDU at 19 points to Dominican's 10. While Dominican showed bursts of scoring, the Knights controlled the remainder of the set, winning 25-18.
The Knights began the fourth set where they left off in the third, with Biro and Ellis contributing on the first two points of the set. With the Knights ahead 4-1, FDU put together another four point run, with two points coming from Suarez Palacios on a kill and block.
Errors by Dominican continued to uplift the Knights, who benefited from three miscues to lead 12-5. Ellis put back two consecutive kills and Biro lent a service ace to kep the Knights in control.
Dominican continued to push back, mounting a four point run to cut into FDU's lead 22-16. FDU put up three more points, punctuated by a service error to win the final set 25-28.
The Knights host two home games next weekend, hosting Princeton on Feb. 20 and George Mason on Feb. 21. Both contests will be aired on NEC Front Row.
