FREDERICK, Md. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Playing their third five-set match in less than 72 hours—and their fifth match overall in that same condensed stretch—the Gothic Knights left the Seahawk Invitational with a split of their pair of second day matches.
 
New Jersey City University (3-6) swept the University of Valley Forge (2-10) in straight sets, 3-0 (25-21, 27-25, 25-22) in the opening match of the second day before falling in five sets to Alvernia University (3-7), 3-2 (19-25,15-25,25-22,25-19,15-12) in the second match of the day, and their final match of the 2018 Seahawk Invitational, leaving the tournament with a 1-3 ledger.
 
Senior libero Georgina Rayo (Jersey City, NJ/McNair Academic) had 33 digs in seven sets on the day. Junior opposite Pamela Florimon (Teaneck, NJ/Memorial) smashed a career-high 20 kills in the loss to Alvernia.
 
MATCH 1: New Jersey City 3, Valley Forge 0 (25-21, 27-25, 25-22)
In their first match on Saturday, the Knights dominated the serving game, unleashing 18 aces, to propel them to their only win at the Seahawk Invitational, defeating Valley Forge in straight sets.
 
Four players had at least three aces. Junior Stephanie Duque (West New York, NJ/Memorial) and rookie opposite Anaiyah Gilyard (Newark, NJ/West Caldwell Tech) each uncorked five aces. Freshman defensive specialist Krista Bartko (Edison, NJ/Edison) served four more aces and senior setter Shaylah Ware (Newark, NJ/Science Park) had three more, while contributing 23 assists.
 
Rayo defended 17 digs, senior outside hitter Amber O'Donnell (East Newark, NJ/Harrison) led NJCU with eight kills (8-4-22, .182) and seven digs and Florimon pounded out a .357 attack rate behind seven kills.
 
All three sets were tightly-contested affairs, and in the first set it was actually Valley Forge who led early, extending their lead to as many as six (15-9) midway through the first set. NJCU, however, tallied nine of the next 10 points, highlighted by a pair of service aces from Gilyard. The Knights held on from there to take the first set.
 
The second set needed extra points to find a winner, as the two teams traded leads back and forth throughout the set, with the Knights not grabbing their first lead until an 18-17 advantage. Once again, however, the Knights finished the set strong, this time relying on a match-high 42 attacks in the set to propel them to victory.
 
NJCU closed the door on Valley Forge in the third set, taking an early 4-0 lead, and once again finishing off the set stronger than the Patriots. The Knights were able to pick up points on service aces, and that was on display in the third, as NJCU tallied five of their 18 aces for the game to close out the straight sets victory.
 
MATCH 2: Alvernia University 3, New Jersey City 2 (19-25, 15-25,25-22,25-19,15-12)
NJCU won the first two sets but couldn't close out the match as the Golden Wolves rallied to win the final three sets to steal the match. NJCU lost despite having the edge in every offensive team category—total points, kills, assists, hitting percentage, aces, blocks and digs.
 
Florimon pounded a career-high 20 kills (.184) on 49 attacks and chalked on four aces and four blocks. Duque produced a double-double of 14 kills and 14 digs, while O'Donnell tallied 13 digs and nine kills (.269, 9-2-26). Ware finished with 39 assists and eight digs and Rayo defended 16 digs.
 
Two players led Alvernia and each had double-doubles. Freshman outside Paige Stern (Fleetwood, Pa.) had 17 digs, 13 kills and six aces. Freshman Taylor Suto (Jobstown, N.J.) added 13 kills and 10 digs to support 38 assists from freshman setter Molly Gaffney (Temple, Pa.).
 
Alvernia's hitting percentage increased in the final four sets—from -.161 in the second set to .241 in the third game, before hitting .276 and .286 in the fourth and fifth periods.
 
Up 2-0, NJCU led 21-19 in the third set before the Wolves scored four in a row to grab the lead and six of the final seven points to steal the win. Alvernia opened a 20-13 lead in the fourth set.
 
In the fifth, NJCU led 9-5 after an ace from Rayo and Duque kills; Duque added another winner for an 11-9 margin. But Alvernia would rally yet again. The Wolves scored the next five points, behind two kills and a block from Stern, who closed out the match with another Stern winner.
 
QUOTABLE KNIGHTS:
Head Coach Robert Cole: "The kids need to keep their heads up and continue to build on this string of hard-fought games. Success will take care of itself if we continue to hold ourselves accountable for our attitude and our effort."
 
OF NOTE:

• Series vs. Valley Forge: This was the first meeting between the two sides. NJCU now leads 1-0.
• Series vs. Alvernia: Alvernia leads the all-time series, 3-0; last meeting was October 11, 2014.
• Pamela Florimon (Teaneck, NJ/Memorial) finished with 10+ kills for the sixth time in two seasons at NJCU and fourth time this year; her previous kills high mark was 17.
• Stephanie Duque (West New York, NJ/Memorial) defended 10+ digs in a match for the fifth time this season and 10th time in her career.
• Amber O'Donnell (East Newark, NJ/Harrison) reached double figures in digs for the 35th time in her career.
• Georgina Rayo (Jersey City, NJ/McNair Academic) had 10 or more digs for the 20th and 21st times in her career.

 
UP NEXT:
The Knights will head back to conference play, as they take on New Jersey Athletic Conference rival Montclair State (3-4, 0-1 NJAC) on Tuesday, September 18 at 7:00 p.m. at Panzer Gymnasium.
 
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