Jersey City, NJ - The Villa Julie (4-5) Men's Volleyball team placed fourth at the 14th Annual Gothic Knight Invitational. The Mustangs lost to NJCU and Medaille, but swept Southern Vermont in pool play, 3-0 (30-14, 30-18, 30-21). Junior outside hitter J.R. Howlett Jackson (Havre De Grace, MD/Havre De Grace), who had 30 kills in the loss to NJCU, was named to the All-Tournament Team.

The Mustangs started out with a loss in pool play against New Jersey City University (7-4).  NJCU ran its winning streak to five straight and avenged a January 26 loss to Villa Julie, by rallying from a 2-1 deficit to defeat the Mustangs, 3-2. JR Jackson slammed 30 kills and hit .311 for VJC (30-11-61), while taking exactly one-third of his teams' attack attempts. He added 17 digs and two aces. Senior middle hitter Alex Ness (Jarrettsville, MD/North Harford) had 10 kills (10-2-29) and 10 digs and sophomore outside hitter Dan Phillips (Street, MD/Harford Tech) tallied 12 kills. Freshman setter John Hall (Bel Air, MD/Bel Air) gave out 55 assists.

The Mustangs easily swept aside Southern Vermont with a convincing 3-0 win. That placed VJC in the third place match against Medaille College (8-5).  Medaille (8-5) overcame the Mustangs and sealed third place in the tournament with a 3-0 victory. Jackson landed 10 kills for VJC, adding seven digs, while Phillips collected 10 kills. Hall handled 23 assists in the loss.

Story courtesy of Ira Thor (New Jersey City University)