BOX SCORE (vs. John Jay)
BOX SCORE (vs. Old Westbury)
NEW YORK, NY…New Jersey City University received a combined 21 kills in two matches from s
enior outside hitter JACQUELINE LeBLANC (Westfield, NJ/Westfield) and 10 aces from sophomore setter ALEX JOHANESEN (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater-Raritan), and the Gothic Knights needed less than an hour per match to record two victories, as NJCU swept John Jay College (25-8, 25-15, 25-16) and SUNY-Old Westbury (25-13, 25-16, 25-9) in a pair of non-conference contests hosted by John Jay at the Dog Pound.
NJCU (8-4) ran its winning streak to six straight matches and has won eight of nine overall since a 1-3 start to the season.
Johanesen ran her streak of consecutive matches with at least one ace to 16, and with four and six aces, respectively, in Saturday's pair of contests, now has three or more aces in seven of 12 outings this year.
*********NJCU 3, JOHN JAY COLLEGE 0 (25-8, 25-15, 25-16) *********
NJCU increased its winning streak against the Bloodhounds (3-14) to 15 in a row and now leads the all-time series 19-2 after hitting .261 as a team with 31 kills (31-13-69), while planting 14 service aces. The match lasted just 57 minutes as NJCU trailed at only one moment of the entire contest.
LeBlanc led the way with 11 kills and a .429 hitting percentage (11-2-21), adding two service aces. Johanesen, this week's NJAC Player of the Week, landed four aces while distributing 24 assists. NJCU had kills on 47.1 percent of her set attempts.
Also for NJCU, junior middle blocker
JENNIFER HATCH (Paterson, NJ/Mary Help of Christians Academy) hit .714 with five kills (5-0-7) and senior outside hitter
JENNIFER CARVALHO (Rahway, NJ/Rahway) collected a match-high eight digs with four kills.
Senior middle blocker
SARAH TORRES (Elizabeth, NJ/Science) finished with four blocks (three assisted) and two aces, Sophomore opposite
THERESA CARVALHO (Rahway, NJ/Rahway) tallied four kills, hit .429 (4-1-7), and stuffed three assisted blocks. Freshman defensive specialist
KIARA MARTINEZ (Newark, NJ/East Side) provided three aces. John Jay hit -.016 as a team (16-17-62).
*********NJCU 3, OLD WESTBURY COLLEGE 0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-9) *********
NJCU needed even less time to defeat the Panthers, prevailing in 52 minutes, behind 18 service aces, 32 kills and a .294 team hitting percentage (32-12-68). NJCU is 9-1 all-time against Old Westbury, winning seven straight in the series. The Panthers hit .000 (15-15-54).
Trailing 11-6 in set one, the Knights uncorked a 10-0 run for a 16-11 lead, and never were behind the rest of the match. Jen Carvalho served nine straight points during the spurt, and landed three straight aces and four overall during the run.
LeBlanc posted 10 kills for NJCU, hitting .316 (10-4-19) with three aces, while Torres smacked a .462 percentage with seven kills (7-1-13) and three blocks. Johanesen landed one-third of NJCU's aces, finishing with a career-high six aces, adding 23 assists. NJCU had kills on 45.1 percent of her set attempts.
Also for NJCU, THERESA CARVALHO had six kills, five digs and three aces, hitting .364 (6-2-11), while her older sister, Jen Carvalho chipped in five kills (5-2-15, .200), five digs and four aces. Hatch contributed four kills and Martinez landed two aces.
In defeat for the Panthers, freshman outside hitter Tynisha George (Medford, NY/Patchogue-Medford) hit .385 with six kills (6-1-13) and two solo blocks while junior middle hitter L'oreal Ellington (East Moriches, NY/Center Moriches) hit .333 with five kills (5-2-9). The remainder of the team mustered only four kills (4-12-32) and hit -.250.
NJCU, unbeaten and in first place in the New Jersey Athletic Conference, puts its 14-match regular season NJAC winning streak on the line when it hosts Kean University on Tuesday, September 30 at 7 p.m. at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center.
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