New Jersey City University Athletics

 

NEW YORK, NY…New Jersey City University needed just 55 minutes to win its fifth consecutive match and eighth in nine outings, as the Gothic Knights hit .526 as a team and swept away John Jay College, 3-0, by scores of 30-16, 30-13, 30-14, in a non-conference women’s volleyball match at the Doghouse. NJCU had 45 kills and made just five errors collectively.

 

NJCU improves to 17-5 overall this season and owns a 7-1 ledger in matches that last three games. The Bloodhounds fall to 4-14 overall with their fifth straights loss. NJCU leads the all-time series against the Bloodhounds, 17-2, and have won the last 13 meetings.

 

In the victory, junior middle blocker LIZZELLE CINTRON (Newark, NJ/Elizabeth) continues to close in on what had seemed to be an unbreakable record. Cintron pounded out 16 kills and had just one error in 22 attempts for a sparkling .682 hitting percentage, and added four blocks and five digs. Now with 1,839 career kills, she needs just 23 more to surpass Satsay Thongvichith—the only men’s or women’s volleyball player in the NJCU Athletics Hall of Fame—for the most kills by a men’s or women’s player in school history. Thongvichith chalked up 1,862 kills from 1995-98.

 

Sophomore middle blocker SARAH TORRES (Elizabeth, NJ/Science) continued her solid play, hitting .692 with 10 kills and only one error in 13 attacks. She added three blocks.

 

Sophomore setter SOFIA GUTIERREZ (Piscataway, NJ/Piscataway) paced the offense with 32 assists, two aces and two blocks. Behind her ball distribution, NJUC hit .458 in game one (15-4-24), .370 in game two (11-1-27) and a stellar .760 in game three, without committing an error (19-0-25).

 

Freshman opposite MICHELLE CINTRON (Newark, NJ/Elizabeth) hit .400 with seven kills (7-1-15), while sophomore outside hitter JACQUELINE LeBLANC (Westfield, NJ/Westfield) hit .333 with six kills (6-1-15). Junior outside hitter GLORINELL PEREZ (Elizabeth, NJ/Elizabeth) added five of NJCU’s 11 services aces, with seven digs and four kills (4-1-9, .333). Sophomore libero LYANELLY NEGRON (Union, NJ/Union) defended 14 digs.

 

For John Jay, Sara Altimirano (Bronx, NY/John F Kennedy) paced the Bloodhounds with eight kills, while Jennifer Gonzalez (Bronx, NY/Jane Addams Vocational) had six kills, two service aces, and five digs. JJC hit just .056 overall (21-16-90).

 

A tight first game saw NJCU leading 15-14, before the Knights closed the game on a 15-2 run. NJCU reeled off eight straight points behind the service game of Gutierrez. NJCU opened up a 3-0 lead in game two and a 9-3 advantage in game three, and never let the Bloodhounds find life in the match.

 

NJCU is back in action tomorrow when it competes in day one of the two-day Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham Invitational in Madison, NJ. The Knights face SUNY-New Paltz at 5 p.m., followed by Russell Sage College at 9 p.m.