New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 CAZENOVIA, NY (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Less than 24 hours after winning a five-set conference marathon match against Rutgers-Newark, the New Jersey City University women's volleyball team faced the difficult task of playing back-to-back neutral court matches four hours from campus against two of the better collegiate teams in New York State. On day one of the Dig Pink Tournament, hosted by Cazenovia College, NJCU lost twice, falling to 2012 NCAA Tournament qualifier Nazareth College, 3-0 (25-7, 25-11, 25-12) before being swept by Elmira College, 3-0 (25-15, 25-11, 25-12).
 
It was the first-ever meeting with both schools in women's volleyball. NJCU fell to 6-15 with the two defeats. Nazareth improved to 17-6 after the match with NJCU while Elmira moved to 15-9.
  NJCU was no match for the Golden Flyers, who used their size to post a colossal .383 team attack percentage with 30 kills in 60 swings against only seven errors. The efficient percentage was the highest by an opponent since New Jersey Athletic Conference rival Richard Stockton College hit .481 (30-4-54) on October 9, 2012, and the highest by a non-conference foe since  Stevenson University posted a .410 percentage (40-6-83) on October 2, 2010.
 
NJCU played without standout junior middle hitter JADE MEDLEY (Queens, NJ/Hudson Catholic) and junior setter MADELYN LEON (West New York, NJ/Memorial) while senior libero CINDY GARCIA (West New York, NJ/Memorial) was used sparingly in one game.
 
Without them, NJCU struggled offensively, hitting -.065 with just 13 kills (13-17-62) and no player had more than three kills with junior opposite ASHLEY LATUSHKO (Kearny, NJ/Kearny) leading the way (3-2-9, .111), adding five assists.
 
Offensively, 5-foot-11 junior outside hitter Olivia Harrigan hit .700 with seven kills and no errors on 10 attempts while 5-foot-9 junior right side Kassandra Buseck posted a .444 clip with five kills (5-1-9) and two blocks. Senior 5-foot-10 outside Christy Burczak hit .800 with four kills in five attempts and 6-foot-1 junior middle blocker Maria Allocco added a .429 rate with four kills (4-1-7) and four aces. Freshman setter Brianna Spears contributed 10 assists and junior outside Chelsea Beecher landed four aces. Naz landed 15 aces overall as a team.
 
Naz hit .500 in the opening set with 10 winners (10-2-16) and never trailed. NJCU had three kills in the period. Naz opened leads of 10-2 and 12-4 in game two. In the final set, the Flyers had 11 putaways and hit .429 (11-2-21), pulling away from a closer 8-6 game with a 10-2 spurt to seize an 18-8 advantage. In the second match, the Soaring Eagles also used a notable size differential to post a stellar attack percentage as Elmira hit .313 (36-11-80) and had a 36-17 margin in kills in a three-game win.
 
Leon returned to the lineup with 14 assists and five digs for NJCU while Medley put away four kills in nine attempts (one error) for a .333 percentage, adding two blocks (one solo). Junior outside hitter MARISSA SCARPA (Kearny, NJ/Kearny) contributed a team-high five kills. Garcia defended a match-high 14 digs.
 
Elmira 6-foot-0 sophomore middle hitter Ashley Heiman hit .400 with a match-high 10 kills (10-4-15) and two blocks and junior  setter Sami Hanes finished with 26 assists and two blocks.
 
Senior outside Taryn Rumsey, one of the top 10 players statistically in the country in kills and points per set, was limited to six kills but she hit .400 without an error (6-0-15) and finished with 11 digs. Freshman 6-foot-2 middle hitter Alicia Day (Mount Laurel, NJ/Lenape) hit .571 with nine kills and just one error (14 swings) with a pair of blocks. Senior libero Catherine Miller finished with 12 digs.
 
Elmira hit .273 in game one (11-5-22) before turning on the jets in game two with 17 kills against only four errors (30 attempts) for an impressive .433 percentage.
 
In the opening game, NJCU trailed by just three, 17-14, before the Eagles ran off eight of the final nine points to win by 10. Elmira surged in front 16-6 in game two before cruising to the 25-11 win. NJCU and Elmira each had eight kills in the third set but the Eagles used an 8-0 run halfway through the period to claim a 23-10 lead it wouldn't relinquish.
 
NJCU will play two more matches in the tournament's second day on Saturday, October 12 when it faces Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) and host Cazenovia, at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., respectively, in the first-ever meeting with both opponents.