JERSEY CITY, N.J — After a victory against a non-conference opponent in Albright College late last week, the New Jersey City University women's volleyball team took on its New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) rival Ramapo College at home at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (JMAC) on Tuesday night, Oct. 11. The Gothic Knights dropped the match in four competitive sets (25-23, 15-25, 25-23, 25-10) against the Roadrunners.

NJCU (11-9, 2-4 NJAC) trailed early in the first set down 11-3 after a variety of attack errors. However, the set did not remain that way, as after a timeout and a service error from Ramapo (7-6, 2-3 NJAC), the Gothic Knights went on a six-point run, cutting the deficit to two points and making the score 16-14 Ramapo. Sophomore outside hitter Brenda Gonzalez (Union City, N.J./Dickinson) led NJCU to three critical kills in the rally, including a team-high five in the first set.
 
Unfortunately for Jersey City, despite an additional 3-0 run later on in the set, the squad continued to trade points back and forth and eventually fell after Ramapo capitalized on a late service error and service ace to seal the first set, 25-23.
 
The second set saw the Gothic Knights play their strongest on the day as they jumped out to an early 5-1 lead after a four-point run over the Roadrunners. Roles reversed from set one as Jersey City capitalized on a variety of errors from Ramapo. The Gothic Knights also went on another four-point run later on in the set, expanding the lead to 18-10. Junior setter Sydney Lore (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee) came up huge in the set for the Gothic Knights, earning 10 assists along with three critical digs and a service ace to guide NJCU to a dominant 25-15 set two victory.

The third set, however, turned out to be very similar to the first set for NJCU. The Gothic Knights started out early with a 10-5 lead in the set. However, Ramapo went on two four-point and three-point runs, closing the gap to 10-9 and 16-15 and eventually tied up the game 20-20 with its second three-point run. Jersey City led again, now at 23-21 when Ramapo went on its last four-point run, ultimately getting four major kills and winning the third set, 25-23, to go up 2-1 in the match.
 
The fourth and final set also saw the Gothic Knights start out with an 8-5 lead. Though similar to the third set, Ramapo went on a five-point run to earn a 10-8 lead. That run, however, did not turn out to be the deciding factor as after the Roadrunners led 14-13, they then expanded the lead to 23-13. Junior outside hitter Ashley Jimenez (West New York, N.J./Memorial) earned two of her three service aces to aid a four-point NJCU run and trim the score 23-17. Unfortunately, NJCU only scored two more points in the set and dropped the fourth and final game, 25-17
 
At the end of the match, three Gothic Knights finished with double digit kills in Gonzalez (14), sophomore outside hitter Rachel Pharo (13) and senior right-side Paola Toledo (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Colegio Catolico San Rafael) (11). Additionally, Toledo led the Gothic Knights with four service aces, with was a career-high.
 
UP NEXT:
Jersey City will return to the court this Saturday, October 15, in Annandale-on-Hudson. N.Y., to take on both Skidmore College and Bard College in the team's final tri-match of the season. The matches are scheduled to be played at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. where the Gothic Knights look to move to 13-9 on the season. Jersey City and Skidmore faced off last season for the first time since 1989, while this will be the sixth-all-time meeting with Bard.