Toms River, NJ - OCC Men's Volleyball defeated the visiting Passaic County Community College Panthers, 3-1 on Thursday (3/30), to advance to the NJCAA Region 19 D-III championship round. The #1 seeded Vikings will host #2 Middlesex College (who defeated #3 Union College) on Saturday, April 1 at 1 P.M. for the championship.

This was a hard fought battle, with Passaic playing aggressively. Ocean jumped out to an early lead with 25-20 and 25-17 1st and 2nd set wins before the Panthers bounced back and staved off elimination with a 25-23 3rd set victory. The Vikings shut the proverbial door in set 4, turning in their strongest performance of the night in a 25-18 win.

"We struggled a bit to communicate, but had great spells up at the net," remarked OCC Men's Volleyball Head Coach Madisyn Raguz. "Great effort by Jake Sullivan and Tyler Iozzi. Channing Williams had key kills and serves at the end to lock it up." 

As previously mentioned, the next stop for the Vikings is the Region 19 championship round. Catch the action live in person or via our broadcast right here.