PURCHASE, N.Y. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | The New Jersey City University women's volleyball team won its 15th match of the season and finished the campaign with its first winning record since 2008 as the Gothic Knights split a non-conference tri-match on October 29, hosted by Manhattanville College. NJCU fell to the host Valiants, 3-0 (25-11, 25-17, 25-20) before defeating the College of Staten Island for the second time in a week, scoring a 3-1 (27-25, 27-25, 25-27, 25-19) outcome.
 
With the wins, NJCU wraps up the regular season at 15-14 overall and eligible for post-season play.  Senior middle hitter Shege Haxhaj (Lyndhurst, N.J./Lyndhurst) ended her four-year career in style, combining for 18 kills in seven sets (18-3-35) for a .429 attack percentage. She added five aces and three blocks on the day and finished her career with 973.5 points, 751 kills, 177 blocks and 107 aces. Sophomore outside hitter Ayleen Pittar (Union City, N.J./Union City) had 44 total digs in seven sets.
 
MATCH 1: Manhattanville College 3, New Jersey City University 0 (25-11, 25-17, 25-20)
The Valiants hit .253 as a team and had 32 kills in the win. In defeat, Haxhaj led all players in kills and attack percentage. She landed 10 winners and hit .562 (10-1-16) with two blocks. She accounted for half of NJCU's offensive production.
 
Also for the Knights, Pittar defended a match-high 15 digs. Sophomore Shaylah Ware (Newark, N.J./Science Park) and junior setter Rachel McIntyre (Drexel Hill, Pa./Upper Darby) split setting duties, distributing 10 and eight assists, respectively.
 
Laura LiVolsi and Asia Reid each led M-Ville with nine kills apiece. LiVolsi hit .500 (9-1-16); Reid had a .304 percentage and three blocks. Megan Quinabo finished with 26 assists. Adrianna Alves tallied 10 digs.
MATCH 2: New Jersey City University 3, College of Staten Island 1 (27-25, 26-25, 25-27, 25-19)
In the second meeting in a week between the schools, NJCU and CSI played three competitive sets that went the distance and then some, before the Knights secured win No. 15 in four games. NJCU owned a 47-34 margin in kills and served 16 aces.
 
Pittar registered a career-high 29 digs—the most by an NJCU player since the 2011 season. O'Donnell led NJCU with 11 kills and 20 digs for her second career double-double. Haxhaj produced eight kills and hit .316 with five aces. Ware had a near triple-double with 18 assists and 10 digs while uncorking eight aces. It was her second double-double of her first season at NJCU.
 
Also for the Knights, McIntyre provided 17 assists. Four other players had at least five kills, led by senior middle hitter Elyssa Magee (Kearny, N.J./Kearny) with seven and a .250 percentage.
 
For the Dolphins, Siobhan Granich finished with a match-high 14 kills and added seven digs. Vanessa Reyes added 18 digs, seven kills and a five assists with three aces. Meanwhile, setter Jessica Cafiero collected a double-double of 28 assists and 11 digs with Victoria Wong defending 22 digs.
 
In the first set, NJCU had set point (24-22) before CSI scored the next three, taking advantage of two Gothic Knight attack errors. With CSI owning set point, McIntyre tied it on a kill that resulted in a blocking error and leading by one, Haxhaj sealed the win with a kill.
 
Again NJCU had multiple set points in game two and against Staten Island rallied. Down 24-21, two NJCU errors and an ace by Wong tied it at 24-24. Even again at 25-25 after the Dolphins survived a fourth set point, NJCU capitalized on two CSI errors to clinch another 27-25 decision.
 

In the third set, NJCU had set point for a third straight game, up 25-24, after the Knights had rallied from 24-22 down. Granich won it for CSI with two kills, followed by an NJCU attack error. There were 11 ties in the set. The final game saw eight ties before NJCU pulled away from a 15-14 contest with seven of the next nine points.
 
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Head Coach Robert Cole on finishing the regular season with a winning record: "The growth of the women's volleyball program is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our student-athletes. This is organic growth. We're not aiming to be a flash in the pan. Our kids have bought in and are willing to do things the right way to have sustained success throughout their time here. We're not happy with our overall record, and we'll never be happy about it, but that's the exact reason our kids buy in—they want to get better everyday."
 
OF NOTE:

• Series vs. Manhattanville: Valiants own a 7-4 series lead.
• Series vs. Staten Island. 18th meeting. NJCU leads the 'Bayonne Bridge Series' by a 12-6 margin. NJCU also won 3-0 in Staten Island on October 22.

• Ayleen Pittar reached double figures in digs for the 13th and 14th time this season and 16th in her career. It was her third 20-dig performance, breaking her career high of 26 in five set at Bryn Mawr on September 3, 2016. It was the most digs by an NJCU player since Michelle Rayo had 37 digs in four sets at William Paterson on September 15, 2011.
• Amber O'Donnell reached double figures in kills for the fourth time in her career and third time this season.
• Amber O'Donnell reached double figures in digs for the 12th time this season and 17th in her career. She had 20 or more digs for the third time (all in 2016). It was her second double-double of the season.
• Haxhaj reached double figures in kills for the sixth this year and 23rd time in her career.