JERSEY CITY, N.J. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University won both contests during the NJCU Tri-Match to extend its winning streak to three matches as the Gothic Knights swept Sarah Lawrence College and Lehman College, 3-0, in non-conference action on September 17 at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center ("Coach Charlie Brown Court").
 
NJCU improved to 6-2 on the season and swept its third straight match as it served 13 aces in each match, defeating SLC, 25-14, 25-18, 25-20, and Lehman, 25-11, 25-12, 25-7. Sarah Lawrence (4-3) downed Lehman, 3-0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-13), in a neutral court match. The Lightning fell to 4-5 with the two losses.
 
The Knights limited their service errors to 10 on the day including just three against Lehman for an impressive .959 serving percentage. NJCU served better than .900 in each match.
 
Junior setter Rachel McIntyre (Drexel Hill, Pa./Upper Darby) set up the NJCU attack often on Saturday as she earned 30 and 36 assists against Sarah Lawrence and Lehman, respectively and added eight service aces (six against Sarah Lawrence) as the Gothic Knights were accurate on their serves throughout the day.
 
MATCH 1: New Jersey City 3, Sarah Lawrence 0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-20)
Behind McIntyre's 30 assists and six aces, NJCU swept the Gryphons in an 1:10. Senior middle hitter Shege Haxhaj (Lyndhurst, N.J./Lyndhurst) landed had eight kills (.263, 8-3-19) and three aces while sophomore middle hitter Nadia Montgomery (Jersey City, N.J./Hudson Catholic) tallied a season-high with seven kills. Senior middle hitter Elyssa Magee (Kearny, N.J./Kearny) added six kills and two aces.
 
The defense limited SLC to 21 kills and a .065 attack percentage by providing 49 digs. Three players reached double figures led by sophomore outside hitter Ayleen Pittar (Union City, N.J./Union City) who had 12 digs in only two sets. Sophomore outside Amber O'Donnell (East Newark, N.J./Harrison) and junior libero Jacqueline Romero (West New York, N.J./Memorial) each had 10 digs.
 
Francesca Kohani had a match-high 12 kills and added 13 digs for a double-double to lead the Gryphons' effort. But she amounted for most of their offense and the remaining players accounted for just nine putaways. CJ Kelley (15 assists, nine digs) and Lauren Kilroy (13 digs) also contributed.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
In the opening match against Sarah Lawrence, NJCU took an early 3-0 first set lead behind two service aces by McIntyre. Sarah Lawrence and NJCU played seesaw volleyball. NJCU had leads of 10-7 and 11-9 but each time SLC tied it. From there, NJCU pulled away with a 5-0 run. McIntyre had two more aces during that stretch and the Gothic Knights never gave up the lead as they earned a commanding 25-14 win in the first set.
 
NJCU carried the first set momentum into the second as the hosts held an early 9-1 lead. However, the Gryphons battled back with their own 9-0 run to actually take a 10-9 lead. The match remained close as neither team was able to break away nor held a lead greater than three points until later in the game. With a 20-18 lead, the Gothic Knights scored the game's final five points—all with kills as Magee uncorked three and O'Donnell two more  to win the second set.
 
Like NJCU did in the first set, Sarah Lawrence was able to take the early 7-2 advantage after winning the set's first four points. The Gothic Knights didn't allow the Gryphons to extend their lead any more, winning the next five points. The set's momentum went back into Sarah Lawrence's favor as the Skyline Conference side went on 8-2 run to take a 15-9 lead, aided by three consecutive aces by Ellen Vild. But from there NJCU slowly chipped away at the deficit behind two McIntyre service aces and two errors by its opponent. Haxhaj came up with two timely kills to help the Gothic Knights tie the game, 16-16. Out of a timeout, Sarah Lawrence was able to win the next three points, but NJCU went on a 6-0 run as four different players managed a kill and the hosts scored nine of the final 10 points to earn the 25-20 win and sweep the match.
 

MATCH 2: New Jersey City 3, Lehman 0 (25-11, 25-12, 25-7)
NJCU had a nearly three-to-one advantage in kills (38-13) behind the arm of Pittar and the Knights hit a sizzling .486 on attack in the 55-minute victory. NJCU's 38 kills were accented by only four attack errors in 70 attempts. Lehman was forced into a -.056 attack effort.
 
Pittar blasted 13 kills in 22 attempts with two errors, hitting .500 and punctuated her day with 11 digs and five service aces. Haxhaj hit .750 with six kills in eight swings (no errors) and O'Donnell added six kills (no errors) in 12 attempts, to also hit .500. She added eight digs. McIntyre had 36 assists in 66 attempts for a .545 rate. Romero had nine digs.
 
Salveira Gonzalez was Lehman's top performer with five kills and four aces.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
NJCU's second match was a dominating performance overall. The Gothic Knights didn't allow the Lightning to score more than 12 points. NJCU had a 76 sideout percentage in game two and 85 percent in the third set. Meanwhile NJCU only trailed once the entire match.
 
In the first set NJCU used four different runs of five or more unanswered points to pull away. The set began with one of those runs as the Gothic Knights earned the first five points. Lehman were able to cut NJCU's lead to two, 5-3, but the Gothic Knights countered with their own 7-0 run before Lehman scored three of the next four points. With the score 13-6, NJCU came away with the next six points between freshman Stephanie Duque's (West New York, N.J./Memorial) strong serving, including two aces, to extend its lead (19-6). Gonzalez earned four services aces in a row as Lehman tried to inch back into the game, but it wasn't enough as NJCU secured set one on a 6-0 run.
 
Pittar's two service aces as part of a 4-0 run helped NJCU start set two strongly. Both teams battled back and forth as the game was at its closest, 8-7 in Lehman's favor. A Lehman service error and attack error combined with Magee's service ace allowed the Gothic Knights to lead by four (11-7). The Lightning scored just five more points as NJCU cruised to the 25-12 victory.
 
The third set was all NJCU. Leading 9-5, the Knights scored the next four points—including two Pittar putaways—and ahead 13-6, produced a 12-1 outburst to seal it.  
 
#QUOTABLEknights
Head Coach Robert Cole on the pair of victories: "NCAA wins are always at a premium. To get two in a day is something we're always proud of. I thought we played better as the day went on. We've got to use this as a stepping stone for some tough conference matches coming up."
 
OF NOTE:

• Series vs Sarah Lawrence: Seventh meeting. NJCU leads all-time series, 7-0, and has won each match via a 3-0 sweep.
• Series vs Lehman: 31st meeting. NJCU leads all-time series, 21-10. This was the first meeting since October 7, 2011.
• Rachel McIntyre increased her career assists total to 1,497.
• Ayleen Pittar reached double figures in kills for the fourth time this season and in her career.
• Ayleen Pittar reached double figures in digs for the sixth time this season and eighth time in her career.
• Ayleen Pittar registered her fourth double-double this season and of her career.
• Jacqueline Romero defended 10+ digs in a match for the sixth time this season and 11th time in her career.

 
WHAT'S NEXT?
NJCU looks to extend its winning streak to four on Tuesday, September 20 when it visits Rutgers-Newark (4-2, 0-1 NJAC) at 7:00 p.m. in a New Jersey Athletic Conference match at The Golden Dome. The Raiders won last year's meeting in Jersey City, 3-0 (25-14, 25-14, 25-11) and leads the all-time series, 36-10. NJCU has won nine of the last 14 meetings.