NEWARK, NJ…New Jersey City University rebounded from a game one loss and moved into a tie for first place in the New Jersey Athletic Conference, as junior middle blocker
LIZZELLE CINTRON (Newark, NJ/Elizabeth) planted match highs of 22 kills, 24 digs and seven blocks in the Gothic Knights’ 3-2 (15-30, 30-28, 30-28, 30-32, 15-12) NJAC road victory over Rutgers-Newark, Tuesday at the Golden Dome.
With the win for NJCU (16-5, 4-0 NJAC), the defending conference regular season and tournament champions move into a tie for first place in the league with Richard Stockton College, which was idle on Tuesday. NJCU has won four consecutive matches and seven of its last eight. The Knights extended their NJAC regular season and tournament conference winning streak to 13 consecutive matches.
Newark falls to 14-5 and 3-1 in the NJAC. R-N leads the all-time series, 31-4, but NJCU has won three of the last four meetings. It was the second year in a row NJCU has taken a 3-2 victory over R-N.
Cintron landed 22 kills (22-7-50), hit .300, and added 24 digs, seven blocks (three solo) and two aces. It was the 19th 20-kill/20-dig match of her career and the 25th time she has defended 20 or more digs.
Sophomore outside hitter
JACQUELINE LeBLANC (Westfield, NJ/Westfield) contributed 15 kills (15-8-54), 21 digs and three assisted blocks, while sophomore middle blocker
SARAH TORRES (Elizabeth, NJ/Science) spiked 12 kills (12-7-31), adding five assisted blocks and two aces.
Sophomore setter
SOFIA GUTIERREZ (Piscataway, NJ/Piscataway) distributed 44 assists, and defended 16 digs. Freshman outside hitter
MICHELLE CINTRON (Newark, NJ/Elizabeth) landed nine kills (9-3-18), hit .333, and chipped in nine digs.
Defensively, sophomore libero
LYANELLY NEGRON (Union, NJ/Union) and junior outside hitter
GLORINELL PEREZ (Elizabeth, NJ/Elizabeth) each provided 16 digs and NJCU collected 106 as a team.
Perez also floored three aces and three blocks, while
Negron had two aces.
For R-N, senior middle blocker Jennifer Snyder (Gibbstown, NJ/Eastern Regional) paced Rutgers-Newark with a career-high 18 kills, hitting .350 while adding two assisted blocks. Freshman outside hitter Jesica Cockerham (Keller, TX/Fossil Ridge), who delivered four of the Raiders’ 15 aces, chipped in 14 kills and 15 digs. Sophomore setter Nazly Hasanizedah (Katy, TX/Alief Hastings) had a double-double with 37 assists and 14 digs while junior middle hitter Julie Pape (Baldwin, NY/Baldwin Senior) collected 13.5 points on eight kills, three aces, a solo block and three assisted blocks.
Newark broke an 8-8 tie in game one with an 8-0 run that gave the Raiders control of the game and a 30-15 win.
In game two, the Raiders led much of the way, until NJCU gathered steam and took its first lead at 22-21. With the match tied 26-26, a kill by
LeBlanc gave the Knights the lead for good. Two R-N attack errors made it 29-26, before two errors by NJCU closed the gap to 29-28. NJCU head coach
CHRISTOPHER FELICIANO called timeout to ice the opposing server, and it worked, as a service error gave the Knights a 30-28 decision in game two.
NJCU burst out of the gates to a 5-0 lead in game three, and led 10-3, before a 9-3 run by the Raiders trimmed the score to 13-12. A
Torres/Perez block made it 15-12, and NJCU held a five-point lead on a
Torres kill for 22-17. The Raiders battled back and took a 26-25 lead on a kill by
Cockerham, before a kill by
LIZZELLE CINTRON and a combined block by the
Cintron sisters gave NJCU a 27-26 edge. Newark answered with a kill, but gave that point right back with one the teams’ 17 service errors.
MICHELLE CINTRON powered a kill for 29-28, and
LIZZELLE CINTRON dumped a tight set into the backrow for a 30-28 win and a 2-1 lead in the match.
Game four was close from start to finish, and it took extra points to decide. After a 16-16 tie, two R-N hitting errors, a kill by
LIZZELLE CINTRON and two aces by
Torres made it 21-16 NJCU. But, a 6-0 run gave Newark a 22-21 lead. After the Knights tied it on a dump kill by
LIZZELLE CINTRON, R-N regained two-point margins of 24-22 and 25-23 on three visitor errors. An ace by
LIZZELLE CINTRON, and kills by
LeBlanc and
Torres made it 27-25, but the Raiders again rallied, and took a 28-27 lead on a kill by
Snyder. With the match tied at 29-29, another winner by
Snyder made it 30-29, R-N, before a service error again evened the score. But the Knights were then whistled for a back-row attacker in front of the 10-foot line, and
Snyder forced game five with a kill and a 32-30 win.
Amazingly, NJCU won game five with
LIZZELLE CINTRON only having one attack. NJCU opened a 3-0 lead after an ace by
Negron, and pulled in front 5-1 on a solo block by
LIZZELLE CINTRON. Three NJCU errors cut the lead to one, 6-5, before a kill by
Pape tied the match. A kill by
Cintron made it 7-6, and NJCU would score four consecutive points to gain a 10-6 advantage as
Torres combined for two blocks with
MICHELLE CINTRON and
LeBlanc.
Hasanizedah shaved the lead to 10-9 with a dump kill, before consecutive kills by
MICHELLE CINTRON and
LeBlanc put NJCU in front 12-9. Just when the Knights appeared to have the match in their grasps, three NJCU errors gave the Raiders life, with the fifth game knotted at 12-12. However a kill by
Torres off the block made it 13-12, and a crosscourt roll kill from
Perez increased the margin to 14-12.
Torres knocked a match-clinching kill into the back right corner to seal the victory for NJCU.
The Knights return to action on Thursday, October 5 at 6 p.m. when it visits John Jay College in New York, NY.
—www.njcugothicknights.com—
