JERSEY CITY, N.J. — It was a night of stellar play and outstanding milestones for the New Jersey City University women's volleyball team as the Gothic Knights defeated Rutgers-Camden in a five-set thriller (23-25, 25-13, 23-25, 26-24, 15-10) at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (JMAC) on Tuesday night, Sept. 27. The victory is the first for the Gothic Knights over the Scarlet Raptors since Oct. 21, 2008, and NJCU now has multiple New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) wins for the first time since the 2009 season.

Set #1:
The first set was extremely tight between Jersey City (8-6, 2-2 NJAC) and Rutgers-Camden (6-7, 2-2 NJAC) as neither team was able to hold on to an advantage of more than three points throughout. The score was tied 10 different times and as late as 21-21 following a kill from senior right-side Paola Toledo (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Colegio Catolico San Rafael). However, the Scarlet Raptors did manage to win four of the next six rallies en route to the two-point, 25-23 set win to take the early 1-0 lead.

Set #2:
Trailing by one set, the Gothic Knights posted the most dominant game of the night in the second and won it by a 12-point margin (25-13) to tie it up at 1-1. They started out with a 5-2 run, including a couple of aces from senior libero Katrina Nguyendon (Union, N.J./Union), before Rutgers tied it back up at 6-6. The squad then blew it open with a 7-0 run — including two kills from Toledo, two aces from junior middle Ashley Jimenez (West New York, N.J./Memorial), a kill from senior middle Leah Seickendick (Hoboken, N.J./Hudson Catholic) and a block from Toledo and Seickendick together — to make it 13-6. Eventually, the Scarlet Raptors crawled their way back into it at 14-12 before NJCU ran away with the remainder of the set on an 11-1 run. During that stretch, sophomore outside hitter Rachael Pharo (Manahawkin, N.J./Southern Regional) notched five of her match- and career-best 10 aces on the night, as well as a kill and a block from Seickendick and a pair of kills for sophomore hitter Brenda Gonzalez (Union City, N.J./Dickinson).

Set #3:
This one started out Rutgers-Camden's way as the road team took a 10-6 lead. NJCU fired right back with an 8-1 run to take the 14-11 lead, including another pair of aces and a kill from Pharo, kills from Toledo and Gonzalez and some blocking action as well. From that point on, it remained hyper competitive before the Gothic Knights took a 23-20 lead. However, the visitors ended on a 5-0 run to take it 25-23 and earn the 2-1 lead in the match.

Set #4:
Tied up at 5-5, Rutgers-Camden started to run away with the set and took a 13-7 lead following an 8-2 run. However, the Green and Gold stormed back with a 10-1 run to take the 17-14 lead. During that stretch, Nguyendon notched a trio of aces, while Seickendick and Toledo each had a pair of kills. The teams then traded off 3-0 stretches before the set was tied up at 20-20. On the brink of defeat, trailing 24-23 and just one point from a loss, the Gothic Knights forced Rutgers-Camden into three straight errors to take the set, 26-24, and force a fifth and final game for all the marbles.

Set #5:
Pharo — who else — started off this set with an ace and then a red card on the road coach made it 2-0 before Pharo notched yet another ace, followed by a Seickendick kill to make it 4-0. Eventually leading 7-1, including two more kills from Toledo, NJCU was in control and looked to be well on the way to the five-set comeback victory.  However, the Scarlet Raptors were able to trim it back to a two-point game at 9-7, forcing the home squad to put the pressure on. Gonzalez got it started with a kill to make it 10-7, followed by a block from Pharo and Seickendick to make it 11-7. Then, leading 12-7, Seickendick notched a solo stuff to make it 13-7 before Jimenez brought it to match point at 14-7 with an ace. Rutgers-Camden stretched it out a few more points after making it 14-10, but Seickendick put the exclamation point on the night with the match-winning kill to end it, 15-10.

Highlights:
- Toledo led all players with a match-best 16 kills on 46 swings with six errors (.217 hitting percentage). She added six digs, a block and an ace.
- Seickendick ended her efficient night with a career-high-tying 13 kills (dating back to Sept. 19, 2017) and five errors on 23 swings (.348) and led all players with a match-high four total blocks.
- Gonzalez was also extremely efficient and ended with 10 kills and just one error on 16 swings (.563) to go with a block and two digs.
- In addition to her service performance, Pharo also finished with nine digs, six kills and a couple blocks.
- Jimenez had four kills and one error on nine swings (.333) to go with a career-high five aces, four digs and two bocks.
- Lore dished out a match- and season-best 40 assists and finished with the double-double, totaling a match-high-tying 11 digs to go with a season-best six kills, two aces and a block.
- Nguyendon also tied the match-high with 11 digs to go with seven assists and five aces.
- Senior defensive specialist Krista Bartko (Edison, N.J./Edison) had six digs on the night as well.

Up Next:
Now even in conference play, the Gothic Knights will face three straight non-NJAC foes for the remainder of the week. They start off at home on Thursday night, Sept. 29, against Brooklyn College at 7:00 p.m before traveling out to Wilkes-Barre, Pa., for a tri-match on Saturday against Wilkes University (11:00 a.m.) and Neumann University (1:00 p.m.).