JERSEY CITY, N.J. – After winning against Baruch College Thursday night, Oct. 20, on Senior Night, the New Jersey City University women's volleyball team took on John Jay College at home at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (JMAC) on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 22. The Gothic Knights won the match in three straight sets (25-17, 28-26, 25-20) against the Bloodhounds.
 
NJCU (14-11) took control of set one early, starting the afternoon off with a 7-3 lead. Senior Katrina Nguyendon (Union, N.J./Union) – back in the libero spot – came out strong for the Gothic Knights, scoring both of her service aces in the contest to open up the match. John Jay (12-10) fought back, however, recording a five-point run to take the team's first lead of the day, 8-7.
 
Both teams continued to trade points back and forth with the Gothic Knights barely staying on top until Jersey City went on a six-point run late in the first to take a 19-11 lead. Sophomore outside hitter Rachel Pharo also scored both of her service aces in the first set during the run. After taking a 23-16 lead later on, NJCU closed out set one, winning 25-17 after back-to-back service errors from the Bloodhounds.
 
Set two saw a similar start to the first as NJCU opened up the lead early with a 4-0 run. Afterwards, the Bloodhounds went on two separate three-point runs while both teams traded points to take a 10-9 lead. The Gothic Knights, though, answered back with two separate three-point runs of their own to take an eventual 17-12 lead after multiple John Jay attack errors. The Bloodhounds eventually came back late in the second to tie the set at 24-24, but after both teams traded points, both senior middle blocker Leah Seickendick (Hoboken, N.J./Hudson Catholic) and Pharo scored back-to-back kills to allow NJCU to win, 26-24.
 
The third and final set started off very similar to how the end of set two turned out. Both teams traded points back and forth and neither had a lead larger than three points as John Jay led 10-7 early on. NJCU ultimately came back and tied up the score six more times, with the last being 19-19. Luckily for NJCU, momentum swung in the Gothic Knights' favor as they went on their second and final six-point run of the contest to take a 24-19 lead. Junior middle blocker  Ashley Jimenez (West New York, N.J./Memorial) earned two of her three kills in the contest during the late run. NJCU ended the match with a kill from junior setter Sydney Lore (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee) to win set three 25-20 and sweep John Jay.
 
At match's end, senior right-side hitter Paola Toledo (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Colegio Catolico San Rafael) was the only Gothic Knight to score double-digit kills with 10. Additionally, sophomore middle blocker Dayshia Espinosa (El Paso, Texas/Pebble Hills) would played a sensational match that would not show up purely on the score sheet. Espinosa earned four kills, a service ace and a dig all at critical points throughout.
 
Up Next:
Jersey City returns home for its final home game of the regular-season Tuesday night, Oct. 25, at the JMAC to take on New Jersey City Athletic Conference (NJAC) rival William Paterson University on Coach Charlie Brown Court. The match will be played at 7:00 p.m. and will be the final NJAC game of the season.