New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 CAZENOVIA, NY (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | For the second time in three days, the New Jersey City University women's volleyball team played a five-set marathon, but this time the Gothic Knights, leading 2-sets-to-1, lost a heartbreaker, 3-2, against Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA), 25-17, 26-28, 14-25, 25-17, 15-13, on day two of the Dig Pink Tournament, hosted by Cazenovia College. In the final match of the tournament, host Cazenovia swept NJCU, 3-0 (25-15, 28-26, 25-17).
 
NJCU (6-17) went 0-4 in the tournament, facing all four opponents for the first time in program history. MCLA improved to 8-11 with the win over NJCU while Cazenovia is 6-22.
  Trailing 14-10 in the final set, NJCU fought off three match points to draw within one (14-13) before Sam Anderson put away a kill and MCLA hung on for the 3-2 win. MCLA opened the fifth set with a 4-0 lead and was ahead 9-3 and 12-5 before NJCU rallied.
 
In defeat, junior middle hitter JADE MEDLEY (Queens, NJ/Hudson Catholic) registered a match-high 14 kills and hit .233 (14-7-30) with five blocks, including four solo rejections. She reached double digits in kills for the 19^th time in her career and sixth time this season.
 
Freshman middle hitter SHEGE HAXHAJ (Lyndhurst, NJ/Lyndhurst) reached double figures in kills for the second time in her career and this week, finishing with 10 kills and only one attack error (32 attempts) while adding four blocks (three solo). Junior outside hitter MARISSA SCARPA (Kearny, NJ/Kearny) defended a career-best 22 digs while senior CINDY GARCIA (West New York, NJ/Memorial) moved from libero to setter and contributed 29 assists. Outside of Medley and Haxhaj, the rest of the team had just 11 kills.
 
Also for NJCU, junior INDIGO HATCHER (Jersey City, NJ/Lincoln), who only had 19 digs in 14 matches this season, stepped up with a career-high 20 digs. It was only the fifth time she has had double figures in digs and six more than her previous best of 14 as a freshman in 2011.
 
Rookie defensive specialist JESSICA PEREZ (Cliffside Park, NJ/Cliffside Park) provided 18 digs—one shy of her career best and her fifth career double-digit defensive effort. Junior opposite ASHLEY LATUSHKO (Kearny, NJ/Kearny) finished with 12 digs.
 
The Trailblazers, members of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC), had a 45-35 advantage in kills, led by Julia Christian with 13 kills (13-6-36, .194), five digs, three solo blocks and three aces. MCLA served 18 aces overall in the win.
 
Darien Quick added 10 kills while Rachel Mills hit .444 with nine kills in 18 attempts against one error. Courtney Parent finished with a double-double of 35 assists and 16 digs while landing five aces. Anderson chipped in seven kills and four aces.
 
Defensively, Allie Chang had 19 digs, Jackie Paluilis defended 17, and Amanda Fleming and Kendra Hobbs contributed 14 and 13, respectively.
 
MCLA had a 12-6 edge in kills in both opening sets. The Trailblazers led 18-16 in set one before scoring seven of the final eight points to win the game, 25-17.
 
In set two, NJCU led early, 10-4 and after MCLA briefly grabbed a 20-18 lead later in the period, the Knights scored six straight to seize a 24-20 margin as Medley had two blocks. MCLA fought off four set points to tie it at 24-24. Medley had a block for the 25^th point before Christian put away back-to-back kills for a 26-25 edge. But NJCU took the game on three straight attack errors by Quick.
 
NJCU never trailed in the third set as MCLA had nine attack errors in the period and NJCU hit .217. The Knights opened a 7-1 lead and eventually moved in front 17-6 before cruising, 25-14.
 
In the fourth set, NJCU trailed by two, 17-15, before another late MCLA spurt, this time an 8-2 run, forced a fifth set. Despite kills by Medley and Haxhaj to make it a 14-13 comeback in the fifth set, the Knights couldn't complete the rally. In the final match of the weekend, Cazenovia had a 39-19 advantage in kills, but the Knights didn't help their own cause, committing 26 attack errors in a three-game setback. The Knights posted a -.063 attack percentage and made 43 total errors in the match. The Wildcats hit .212, making just 15 attack errors.
 
In defeat, Scarpa had 13 digs and nearly half of NJCU's winners with nine kills. Latushko and rookie outside hitter ELYSSA MAGEE (Kearny, NJ/Kearny) each had 11 digs while Latushko and Haxhaj putdown three blocks apiece.
 
Most of Cazenovia's offense came from two players. Juliann Heigel floored 15 kills in 33 attempts with just two errors (.394) while adding 10 digs and three blocks. Shaylia Thomas added 12 kills and Samantha McCarthy dished 35 assists and 12 digs. Defensively, Megan Pettit tallied 12 digs while Erin Sweeney and Elizabeth Harten each totaled 11 digs.
 
Tied 9-9 in game one, Cazenovia unleashed a 13-1 run behind the serving of McCarthy and Evans, who had three aces during the spurt and the hosts won by 10, 25-15.
 
Set two was back and forth from the beginning and featured an incredible 15 ties and 12 lead changes. Scarpa ultimately gave NJCU a 26-25 lead before the Wildcats scored three consecutive points, including a Sweeney kill and a McCarthy ace, to outlast the Knights, 28-26. The hosts never trailed in the third set and eventually pulled away, 25-17.
 
The schedule remains difficult on Tuesday, October 15 at 7 p.m. when NJCU hosts five-time defending New Jersey Athletic Conference champion Richard Stockton College at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center.