HARTSVILLE, S.C. – The Coker College men's volleyball team battled, but eventually fell to the Highlanders of NJIT 3-1 (25-23, 18-25, 21-25, 22-25) Tuesday (Mar. 14) evening in the DeLoach Center. 

The Cobras were ready to play in the first set of action and took a tough 25-23 victory. Four consecutive points scored from Coker broke a 21-21 tie and proved to be the difference in the frame. Joao Victor Santos began the four-point scoring streak with a kill, which was followed by an attack error committed from NJIT. Next, Artur Cabral made his presence known in his return to the Coker lineup with back-to-back service aces to put the Navy and Gold ahead of NJIT 24-21. Cabral would go on to tally the set winning point for Coker off of a powerful kill. 

Coker went on and dropped the next three sets to NJIT, but didn't go down without a fight, dropping the third set by four points and the fourth set by just three points. Joao Victor Santos led the Cobras offensively with a team-best 11 kills. Gabriel Castro also contributed to the Coker offense with nine kills, while Aleksa Bijelic dished out a team-high 30 assists.

Luca Berger had a solid game on the defensive end of the ball with a team-leading six total blocks. In addition, Gary Baker collected 11 digs for the Navy and Gold. The Cobras will return to the court on Feb. 24 when they host Alderson Broaddus at 7 p.m.

McDonald's Player of the Game – Luca Berger