SCRANTON, Pa. — The New Jersey City University women's volleyball team closed out regular-season play for the 2022 season on Thursday evening, Oct. 27, on the road in the Electric City at Marywood University. Evenly matched at every single stage of the contest, the Gothic Knights eventually edged the hosting Pacers after five tight sets (22-25, 25-21, 27-29, 25-23, 16-14). The 16th victory marks the most for NJCU since the program's 28-win 2007 season.

After seeing limited time on the court in the five-set New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) season finale victory on Tuesday, Oct. 25, sophomore outside hitter Brenda Gonzalez (Union City, N.J./Dickinson) dominated for NJCU (16-11) in tonight's win. The second-year player led everyone with a career-high-tying 16 kills and just three errors on an efficient 37 swings (.351 hitting percentage) and added a career-best and team-high-tying four total blocks, as well. Not to be outdone, Gonzalez' partner in crime, senior libero Katrina Nguyendon (Union, N.J./Union) registered a match- and career-best 25 digs to go with nine aces, which was also a match- and career-best mark for the fourth-year Gothic Knight.

Set 1: Marywood 25, NJCU 22
The first set against Marywood (12-15) started out in NJCU's favor and the road team continued to put the pressure on. At a few points, the Gothic Knights even led by as many as five and as late as 18-13. However, the Pacers recovered and finished the set on a 12-4 run to take it 25-22 and go up 1-0.

Set 2: NJCU 25, Marywood 21
Jersey City rebounded in the second to even it up, despite falling behind early at 5-1. Trailing 11-7 midway through, the Gothic Knights managed to tie it up 15-15, doubling up Marywood with an 8-4 run — sophomores Rachael Pharo (Manahawkin, N.J./Southern Regional), Dayshia Espinosa (El Paso, Texas/Pebble Hills) and Gonzalez all notched kills over this stretch. The Pacers managed to take control once again, however, and NJCU found itself down by three at 21-18. At that point, the Green and Gold took control and won the final seven points of the set to win it, 25-21. Gonzalez was the primary factor during the 7-0 run, notching two kills and two solo blocks, coupled with an ace from Nguyendon.

Set 3: Marywood 29, NJCU 27
Arguably the most exciting set of the night, both teams put together multi-point runs to stretch out their respective leads in the rubber game. The Pacers started out with a 4-1 lead, but five straight from the Gothic Knights gave NJCU the lead at 6-4, including three straight aces from junior setter Sydney Lore (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee) — she led all players with 38 assists on the night and tied her career-high mark with eight aces. Marywood then took back the lead and was up by three at 16-13 following a 6-1 run, but NJCU answered once again with an 11-4 run to get within one point of the set win at 24-20 — Gonzalez had two more kills, while Espinosa had one and the two also combined for a block during this stretch. Unfortunately, the Pacers closed out the set with a 9-3 run to win it, 29-27.

Set 4: NJCU 25, Marywood 23
This one started out as even as any on the night, with the squads tied up at 11-11. At that point, the Gothic Knights took control via an 8-1 run to take a 19-12 advantage — Gonzalez had three more kills, while Nguyendon had a pair of aces during this stretch. It was at this point, Marywood made a bid to try and win the match in four sets with an 11-4 run to tie it up at 23-23. However, as she had done all night, Gonzalez put the set away with back-to-back kills to end it, 25-23 in NJCU's favor and force a fifth set for the second straight match for the Gothic Knights.

Set 5: NJCU 16, Marywood 14
Nguyendon started off the set with two straight aces and NJCU eventually led 6-3 following another kill from Gonzalez, as well as two from senior right-side hitter Paola Toledo (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Colegio Catolico San Rafael). Marywood then scored four straight to take a slim 7-6 lead, but the Gothic Knights again got out in front thanks to a kill from Toledo and an ace from junior middle blocker Ashley Jimenez (West New York, N.J./Memorial), 9-7. Back and forth they went until, tied at 11-11, senior middle blocker Leah Seickendick (Hoboken, N.J./Hudson Catholic) and Lore had a couple of kills to make it 13-11 before Espinosa got NJCU just one point away from the win with a kill to make it 14-12. The Pacers took two straight points to tie it at 14-14. Marywood was called for the service error and then, after a lengthy rally, Espinosa called game-set-match with a solo stuff at the center of the net to win it, 16-14, in the fifth.

Highlights:
- Toledo ended the night with 11 kills and eight digs, while Lore added seven digs and three kills to her night.
- Espinosa finished with five error-less kills on nine swings (.556) to go with a career-best-tying and team-high-tying four blocks.
- Pharo closed out the regular-season with 11 digs and six kills, while Seickendick had seven kills.

Up Next:
Despite the regular-season coming to a close, the Gothic Knights season is not quite over. The 2022 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Women's Volleyball Championship is slated for Nov. 9, 12 and 13. Jersey City, along with the other declared and qualified teams, await the bracket selection, which takes place on Monday, Nov. 7, following the release of the 2022 NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship Field of 64.