New Jersey City University Athletics

PATCHOGUE, NY (NJCUGothicKnights.com) |  The New Jersey City University women's volleyball was unable to get its offense going, dropping a pair of matches on day two of the St. Joseph's College (LI) Tournament at the Danzi Center. In the opener, Allegheny College had a 36-19 advantage in kills while committing eight fewer attack errors and swept the Gothic Knights, 3-0 (25-9, 25-17, 25-12). In the nightcap, host St. Joseph's produced a 42-24 margin in kills and posted a 3-0 win over NJCU (25-23, 25-12, 25-18).
 
NJCU, which had entered the tournament two games above .500, fell to 9-10 after going 0-3 on the weekend. Allegheny, members of the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC), improved to 14-7 after the opening match. St. Joseph's, members of the Skyline Conference, is 10-11. An All-Tournament team was not selected.
 
Match 1: Allegheny 3, NJCU 0 (25-9, 25-17, 25-12)
In the first meeting between the programs, NJCU led just once in the opening set and the Gators never trailed in games two or three in the decision. Allegheny had a 52.0 to 24.0 differential in points earned and hit .261 overall (36-12-92) while limiting the Knights to -.011 on attack (19-20-87).
 
No one reached double figures in kills for the Gators but four players had at least five kills in a well-distributed attack led by Justine Kelly who dished 20 assists and landed six kills in 11 swings without an error for a .545 percentage.
 
Julia Weeks hit .333 with seven kills (7-2-15) and Taylor Samuel also had seven kills, hitting .294 (7-2-17) and nine digs. Morgan Bush contributed five kills (5-2-13, .231)/ Terra Schall added 11 digs and seven assists. Karissa Welker (four aces) and Kylee Karczewski (three aces) combined for seven of the Gators' 12 aces.
 
For NJCU, rookie outside hitter Georgina Rayo (Jersey City, NJ/McNair Academic) led NJCU with six kills (6-2-27, .148) and senior defensive specialist/libero Valerie Ballestas (North Bergen, NJ/Weehawken) had 14 digs for the second straight match. Freshman outside Amber O'Donnell (East Newark, NJ/Harrison) chipped in 12 digs. Sophomore setter Rachel McIntyre (Drexel Hill, PA/Upper Darby) finished with 18 assists.
 
In game one, NJCU led 1-0 and 2-1 before Allegheny reeled off the next seven points for an 8-2 edge. Up 10-6, the Gators scored eight of the next nine points for an 18-7 differential and extended that run to 14-2 for a 24-8 margin.
 
In the second set, NJCU fell behind 16-8 but battled back within one, 17-16, after back-to-back combo blocks—with junior middle hitter Shege Haxhaj (Lyndhurst, NJ/Lyndhurst) involved in each. But the Gators put the set away, scoring eight of the next nine points for a 25-17 win. Leading 11-8 in game three, the Gators used an 8-1 run to push its advantage to 19-9 before prevailing by 13.
 
Match 2: St. Joseph's 3, NJCU 0 (25-23, 25-12, 25-18)
In the 29th meeting between a couple of well-acquainted non-conference rivals, the Eagles survived a battle in game one—10 ties and five lead changes—then led wire-to-wire in the second and third sets in the 3-0 win.
 

The Eagles hit just .022 in game one with 11 attack errors (12-11-46) but dramatically increased those rates in games two and three, generating 14 kills and a .357 percentage in the second set (14-4-28) before bettering that in the final game with 16 winners at .375 (16-4-32).
 
Heather Ferchland led the way with 12 kills for the hosts (12-4-24), hitting .333, and Claire Urizzo hit .33 with nine kills (9-3-18) and three blocks. Also for SJCLI, Kristin Crudele (.385, 6-1-13), Erin Kelly (.308, 6-2-13) and Courtney Bocchieri (.000, 6-6-18) each finished with six kills as Courtney Wickline and Jessica Monteserrato evenly distributed 16 assists apiece in a two-setter system. Bocchieri chipped in three blocks and Wickline had three aces while Jenna Beekman defended 11 digs for the victors.  
 
In just her third collegiate match, rookie opposite hitter Ayleen Pittar (Union City, NJ/Union City) led NJCU with eight kills and seven digs. Ballestas defended nine digs; McIntyre dished 20 assists and had five digs.
 
Trailing 23-21 in the opening set, NJCU tied it on a kill by Haxhaj and an opposing attack error. But after a timeout, Haxhaj had a service error and Wickline landed an ace to clinch the set, 25-23. SJCLI jumped out to a 7-0 lead in game two and a 9-2 margin in game three and couldn't be caught.
 
Of Note:

• Allegheny leads all-time series, 1-0.
• NJCU leads all-time series with St. Joseph's, 17-12 and has still won 11 of the last 17 meetings.
• Valerie Ballestas had double figures in digs for the eighth time in her career (sixth time in 2015).
• Amber O'Donnell posted double figures in digs for the fourth time during her rookie campaign.
• Shege Haxhaj, with 521 kills, is two behind Cara Strzelczyk (523 kills, 2002) for 14th place on NJCU's all-time list.
• Shege Haxhaj had four blocks in the two matches giving her 102 for her career. She became the 11th Gothic Knight with 100 career blocks.

What's Next?:
NJCU returns to New Jersey Athletic Conference play on Tuesday, October 13 (7 p.m.) when it meets Kean University at Harwood Arena in Union, NJ. Kean (13-14, 2-2 NJAC) has won the last five meetings (2010-14) and leads the all-time series, 32-7.