NEW YORK, NY (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | For the second time in less than a week, the New Jersey City University women's volleyball team prevailed in a five-set thriller that needed extra points to decide. NJCU won the first two sets handily before being forced to the brink and held on to knock off the City College of New York, 3-2 (25-19, 25-16, 19-25, 24-26, 17-15) on October 9 at the Nat Holman Gymnasium.
 
NJCU (7-13) had a substantial margin in kills in the non-conference matchup, outswinging CCNY (8-9) by a +25 margin (58-33), but committed 36 attack errors as the Beavers hung on. There were 24 ties and nine lead changes in the final two sets.
 
CCNY trailed 24-22 in the fourth set before rallying to stave off a pair of match points while scoring the final four points to force a fifth set.
 
There was even more drama in the fifth set. NJCU led 14-12 on back-to-back kills by junior opposite Pamela Florimon (Teaneck, NJ/Memorial) and senior outside hitter Amber O'Donnell (East Newark, NJ/Harrison) before CCNY again staved off two match points and grabbed its own chance to win when junior outside Nicole Polanco (West Haverstraw, N.Y.) put away a kill to give the Beavers a 15-14 lead. But Polanco committed an attack error on the next point and junior outside hitter Stephanie Duque (West New York, NJ/Memorial) buried back-to-back kills to punctuate a 17-15 NJCU win in the final game.
 
Florimon, O'Donnell and Duque all reached double digits in kills, led by O'Donnell who registered a double-double of 13 kills, 13 digs and a .290 attack percentage (13-4-31). Florimon added 13 kills while Duque got into double figures on her final two swings, finishing with 11 kills (.261, 11-5-23) and seven digs.
 
Senior setter Shaylah Ware (Newark, NJ/Science Park) directed the offense with 43 assists, six digs and three aces while landing four kills (4-1-11, .273). Freshman outside Yaidettive Vega (Jersey City, NJ/Dickinson) provided nine kills (9-5-23, .174) and seven digs coming off the bench. Freshman outside hitter Karina Rosado (Linden, NJ/Linden) had 10 digs.
 
Freshman outside Nadia Campoverde (Queens, N.Y.) had a match-high 14 kills for CCNY while junior middle blocker Kayla Oge (New City, N.Y.) added nine kills and hit .467 (9-2-15) with six blocks (five solo). Sophomore setter Dzeneta Harambasic (Ridgewood, N.Y.) dished 26 assists.
 
The first three sets were far less dramatic. NJCU never trailed in game one, opening up an 18-9 lead before pulling away.
 
Trailing 15-14 in game two, NJCU reeled off nine consecutive points to seize a 23-15 lead in game two. The Knights had six kills during the run—three by O'Donnell. CCNY jumped out to a 13-5 lead in game three and after the Knights drew within 20-17, pulled away in a set it led wire-to-wire.
 
QUOTABLE KNIGHTS:

• Head Coach Robert Cole on the win: "I thought the first two sets we played with good focus and intensity. I think we played hard in sets 3-5—we just didn't play well. We have kids being given opportunities that are being passive and trying not to make errors. You can't be successful like that. Hats off to CCNY; they always give us a game and challenge us."

 
OF NOTE:

• NJCU is 3-4 in 5-set matches this season.
• Series vs. CCNY: 36th meeting. NJCU leads, 20-16, and has won the last seven meetings.
• Duque reached double figures in kills for the 10th time in her career and seventh time this year.
• Florimon reached double figures in kills for the 10th time in her career and eighth time this season.
• O'Donnell reached double figures in digs for the 41st time in her career.
• O'Donnell reached double figures in kills for the 15th time in her career and sixth time this season.

• O'Donnell had her fifth double-double of the season and ninth career double-double.
• O'Donnell increased her career digs total to 876 and is now 14th in school history. She needs 124 more to become the 10th Gothic Knight with 1,000 career digs.

 
UP NEXT:
NJCU is back in New Jersey Athletic Conference action on Thursday, October 11 at 7 p.m. when it visits Rutgers-Newark at The Golden Dome in Newark, N.J. Rutgers-Newark leads the all-time series, 37-11. It will be the 49th meeting; NJCU won last year, 3-2.
 
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