New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score BOX SCORE

PATCHOGUE, NY (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University and St. Joseph's College had the first three sets of the match decided by a combined nine points, but the Golden Eagles capitalized on a 62-31 advantage in kills and defeated the Gothic Knights, 3-1 (25-21, 27-25, 22-25, 25-13) in a non-conference match on Friday night at the Danzi Athletic Center.
 
The loss ends the 2011 season for the Gothic Knights at 7-20—the same record as 2010. St. Joseph's improves to 16-10. Even with the loss, NJCU leads the all-time series, 17-9 and has won 11 of the last 13 meetings.
 
In defeat, rookie setter CINDY GARCIA (West New York, NJ/Memorial) collected her 13^th double-double of the season with 25 assists and 14 digs while rookie middle blocker JADE MEDLEY (Newark, NJ/Hudson Catholic) notched eight kills and hit .226 with just one error (8-1-31). Junior outside hitter KIARA MARTINEZ (Newark, NJ/East Side) landed all six of NJCU's service aces in the match and contributed 14 digs and six kills.
 
Senior two-year co-captain and outside hitter TABITHA JORDAN (West New York, NJ/Memorial) concluded her four-year Gothic Knight career with 796 digs, 654 kills and 137 aces. She had 19 digs in the contest and hit .182 with six kills (6-2-22).
 
Senior libero AMANDA DOPICO (West New York, NJ/Memorial) defended a match-high 22 digs in the loss and concluded her three-year NJCU career with 854 digs. Rookie middle blocker INDIGO HATCHER (Jersey City, NJ/Lincoln) chalked up six kills.
 
The Eagles were led by sophomore outside hitter April Bennett (Hampton Bays, NY) with 23 kills and a .436 attack percentage (23-6-39). Senior setter Megan Caiazzo (East Patchogue, NY) delivered 46 assists and seven digs. Senior outside hitter Ashleigh Scully (Islip Terrace, NY) added 13 kills and a .306 attack rate (13-2-36).
 
Also for the Eagles, senior middle hitter Nicole Redding (Smithtown, NY) had 18 digs and nine kills, hitting .333 (9-2-21) and senior middle hitter Melissa O'Connell (Amityville, NY) contributed 18 digs and eight kills (.179, 8-3-28). Sophomore outside Jessica DeMato (Cutchogue, NY) hit .417 with six kills and senior libero Andrea Horn (Coram, NY) had 13 digs.
 
The Eagles hit .261 as a team and had a 2:1 ratio in kills and a 75-38 margin in points. The Eagles committed 17 service errors.
 
SJCNY held a huge 15-4 edge in the opening set but won by just four points. Scully and DeMato each had five winners for the Eagles and DeMato hit .500. After a tight early game, up 12-9, the Eagles extended their lead to 19-12 with a 7-3 run. NJCU pulled within 24-21 late before a Redding shot ended the set.
 
In the second set, Medley and Jordan each had three kills and no errors. The Eagles received nine kills and a .429 percentage by Bennett (9-3-14) and claimed a 17-8 margin in kills. But it was nip and tuck the entire way with 12 ties and eight lead changes between the schools. NJCU led 14-11 and 23-21 after ties at 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21. Two kills by Bennett and an NJCU ball handing error gave the Eagles set point but Medley smashed a kill and Bennett had an attack error to five NJCU a 25-24 edge. But the Eagles bounced back with a kill by Redding to tie it at 25-all and Bennett slammed back-to-back kills to clinch a 27-25 win.
 
In the third period, Redding and Scully each hit .500 with four kills and no errors but NJCU battled back from a 15-11 deficit to force a fourth game. Down by four, NJCU scored seven of the next eight points for an 18-16 lead, led by the serving of Jordan and aided by two Hatcher kills and four SJC errors. A Bennett kill tied it at 18-18 and after NJCU regained a two-point margin, the Eagles again tied it at 20 and 21. But NJCU scored the next three points as Martinez floored back-to-back aces for a 24-21 lead and a kill by Garcia gave NJCU a 25-22 win.
 
In the final set, the Eagles never trailed and were carried by the power of Bennett who hit a stellar .786 in the period with 11 kills and no errors on 14 attempts. As a team, the Eagles hit .533 with 17 kills and one error in 30 attempts and had a 17-9 advantage in kills in the set.