Greg Higgins had 14 kills, five digs and five blocks against NJIT.

NEWARK, N.J. (April 5, 2006) – In its final tune-up before the start of the Molten Division III Men’s Invitational Volleyball Championship on Friday, Stevens Institute of Technology claimed a 3-0 victory (30-26, 30-24, 32-30) over Division II New Jersey Institute of Technology on Wednesday evening at the Fleisher Athletic Center in Newark, N.J.  With the win, the Ducks improved to 26-11 on the year while the Highlanders dropped their fourth straight match to fall to 11-11 overall.

Senior outside hitter Greg Higgins (Kenmore, N.Y.) poured in a match-high 14 kills to go along with five digs and five block assists.  Higgins hit .391 (14-5-23) in the contest.  Senior setter/outside hitter Chris Bock (Empangeri, Republic of South Africa) contributed 11 kills and six digs in the victory.  Freshman middle hitter Andrew Cranford (Bel Air, Md.) hit .600 with 11 kills and only two attack errors in 15 total attempts.  He also posted three block assists.

Meanwhile, junior setter/outside hitter Michael Schulte (San Bernardino, Calif.) finished with 46 assists and seven digs.  Junior outside hitter/libero Brian Carlson (West Seneca, N.Y.) chipped in with seven digs.

NJIT was led by sophomore opposite Leonardo Paludo (Balneario Camboriu, Brazil), who had 13 kills, five digs and two block assists.  Sophomore outside hitter Greg Wagner (Wilbraham, Mass.) added 10 kills for the Highlanders.  Freshman setter Rodrigo Correa (Sao Paulo, Brazil) collected 30 assists in the loss.

Stevens will open the Molten tournament at home on Friday when it takes on top-seeded Juniata College (10-11) in a semifinal match-up at 7 p.m.  In the other semifinal, No. 2 seed University of California-Santa Cruz (6-9) will play third-seeded Rivier College (31-3) at 5 p.m.  The third-place match is slated for Saturday at 3 p.m.  The Molten title match will be played at 5 p.m. on Saturday.