POMONA, NJ… Junior middle blocker
LIZZELLE CINTRON (Newark, NJ/Elizabeth) slammed a match-high 33 kills, but Richard Stockton College rebounded from a 2-1 deficit to stun a short-handed
New Jersey City University squad, 3-2, in a New Jersey Athletic Conference match played late Tuesday at the Stockton Sports Center. RSC, which prevailed 29-31, 30-19, 27-30, 30-22, 15-7, snapped NJCU’s 13-match NJAC regular season and tournament conference winning streak.
NJCU, which entered the contest with a nine-match winning streak, and winners of 12 of 13, falls to 21-6 overall and 4-1 in the NJAC, in a second-place tie with Rutgers-Newark, whom the Knights defeated on October 3.
Stockton improves to 15-8 and 5-0 NJAC, and pulls into sole possession of first in the league, with a match against R-N still to be played, which could decide the regular season conference title. The Ospreys lead the all-time series, 35-3, but NJCU has won three of the last four meetings. It was the second meeting between the schools in four days—NJCU defeated RSC on October 7 in the championship of the Devils’ Classic at FDU-Florham.
The loss was NJCU’s first in conference play since a 3-0 setback at Rowan University on October 28, 2003. NJCU committed 17 service errors in the match, and a total of 64 errors overall.
The decision marked only the third time NJCU has lost a match in which Cintron has posted 30 or more kills. NJCU is 10-3 all-time when she reaches the 30-kill plateau.
NJCU was without the services of starting middle hitter
SARAH TORRES (Elizabeth, NJ/Science), who missed her third consecutive match for personal reasons.
Cintron finished with 33 kills (33-10-62) and a .371 percentage, 11 digs, two aces and two blocks. The 33 kills mark the 23rd match in her career of 25 or more winners and the 13th time she has recorded 30 or more kills. Now with 1,961 kills and 2,473.0 points in her career, she is on the verge of two major milestones.
Sophomore outside hitter
JACQUELINE LeBLANC (Westfield, NJ/Westfield) moved over to middle for the match, and finished with 11 kills (11-4-46) and two solo blocks, while freshman outside hitter
MICHELLE CINTRON (Newark, NJ/Elizabeth) finished with 10 kills (10-5-33).
In defeat, junior outside hitter
GLORINELL PEREZ (Elizabeth, NJ/Elizabeth) defended a match-high 23 digs, as she became the first player in school history to exceed 1,500 in a career (1517).
Sophomore setter
SOFIA GUTIERREZ (Piscataway, NJ/Piscataway) handed out 48 assists for an offense which hit .241 (60-22-158). She added six digs and three aces.
Stockton received 18 kills (18-3-54, .278), eight digs and five aces from sophomore outside hitter Amanda Burkart (Cresskill, NJ/Cresskill) and 14 kills on just one error (14-1-32), with four blocks and a .406 hitting percentage from senior middle hitter Lauren Schaffer (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick).
Sophomore setter Christine Aletras (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood) matched Gutierrez with 48 assists, adding a team-high 21 digs and two aces. Sophomore middle hitter Audrey O’Donnell (Bogota, NJ/Immaculate Heart) finished with nine kills (9-3-21, 2.86), 11 digs, five blocks (three solo) and two aces.
In game one, Stockton led nearly from start to finish, with a late six-point margin (21-15), and held game point and a 29-26 lead. However, a resilient NJCU club battled back, stealing the final five points of the frame for a 31-29 win. Back-to-back kills by
Perez, who finished with six in the match (6-3-14, .214), made it a 29-28 deficit, before a combined
LIZZELLE CINTRON/Gutierrez block evened the score at 29-29.
LIZZELLE CINTRON punished a kill for a 30-29 lead, before
Perez added another kill to seal the game.
Game two was all Stockton. With the score 14-9 Ospreys, Stockton uncorked a 9-2 run to take a 23-11 advantage, before rolling to a 30-19 decision.
A close third game saw five ties, including 13-13. The turning point in the game came on a diving dig by
LIZZELLE CINTRON, which led to a cross-court dump kill by
LeBlanc and a 17-13 lead. After a kill by
MICHELLE CINTRON made it 24-20, RSC committed two errors during
LIZZELLE CINTRON’s serve, and the margin increased to 26-20. A later kill by
LeBlanc made it 29-23. The Ospreys made it interesting, as the second of two kills by
Schaffer closed the gap to 29-27, before one of 16 service errors by the hosts gave NJCU the game, 30-27.
Game four was close for a long stretch, with five more ties, including 13-13, before a 14-6 spurt put RSC ahead, 27-19. A key point came when Schaffer earned back-to-back kills on over balls, as the Ospreys led 18-14. She again collected consecutive kills to put RSC in front 27-19, before prevailing 30-22.
In the fifth frame, Stockton opened up a 4-1 lead and never looked back, thanks to a strong service game. NJCU cut the deficit to one twice on
LIZZELLE CINTRON kills, including a 5-4 margin. But the Ospreys received three consecutive aces by
Burkart, and blocked
LIZZELLE CINTRON for a 10-4 lead. A kill by
LIZZELLE CINTRON followed by a Stockton attack error made it 10-6, but RSC scored five of the final six points, including consecutive aces by
O’Donnell, as Stockton pulled out the match.
NJCU will return to action on Thursday, October 12 at 7 p.m. when it hosts Kean University in an NJAC match at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center. The Gothic Knights own a 23-match home court winning streak at the JMAC.
—www.njcugothicknights.com—
