BRYN ATHYN, Pa. — The New Jersey City University women's volleyball made it two straight victories tonight, Thursday, Sept. 19, as the Gothic Knights went on the road and defeated Bryn Athyn College in four sets (21-25. 25-19, 25-20, 25-21). Senior captain outside hitter
Brenda Gonzalez (Union City, N.J./Dickinson) led all players with 22 kills, while junior outside hitter
Marina Millett (Matawan, N.J./Saint John Vianney) was one kill short of a double-double and sophomore libero
Carly Everett (York, Pa./York Catholic) notched a match-best 19 digs — the latter two combined for 37 digs overall.
NJCU (4-5) held the early advantage, 13-9, midway through the first set against the Lions (0-7), but the home team went on a 10-2 run to go up 19-15 before winning the first set, 25-21. However, coach
Jordan Robinson's squad regrouped during the break and put together a strong second set to tie the match up at 1-1. Bryn Athyn led in the early going and held a one-point advantage at 9-8. At that point, the Gothic Knights turned it on to win nine straight points and take a 17-9 lead — three of those points were courtesy of Gonzalez kills. The Lions managed to claw back slowly, making it 23-19, but a bad home team set followed by a kill from sophomore middle blocker
Brianna Melanson (South Brunswick, N.J./South Brunswick) gave NJCU the 25-19 win.
Bryn Athyn again took an early 8-6 led to start the third set, but NJCU slowly grabbed the lead back and led 15-12. The Lions recovered to go up by three once again at 19-16, but the Green and Gold fired back by winning eight in a row and nine of the next 10 to take the set, 25-20, and go up 2-1 in the match — five of those points were kills by Gonzalez, including the final three points for the 10-1 run.
Set number four started off evenly and then, with NJCU trailing 6-5, the Gothic Knights once again won eight points in a row, and 11 of the next 13, to take a 16-8 lead. Most of that run came via errors by the Lions, however junior right-side hitter
Kiki Lugo (Kearny, N.J./Kearny) tallied a pair of aces over that stretch. Leading by four at 18-14, NJCU went on a 5-1 run, including an ace and a kill from Gonzalez, to take a 23-15 lead. Bryn Athyn made it close at 23-20, but kills from Millett and Gonzalez sealed it at 25-21 and 3-1 overall in the victory.
Highlights:
- Gonzalez hit .232 overall with nine errors on 56 swings with those match-best 22 kills.
- Millett had 19 digs and nine kills without a single error on 21 swings (.429).
- Lugo notched three aces, six kills and five digs.
- Sophomore setter
Genesis Hibbard (Groesbeck, Texas/Morristown (N.J.)) led all players with 23 assists to go with eight digs and two aces. Freshman
Keyanni Overstreet (Port Aurther, Texas/Sabine Pass) dished out 11 to go with three digs.
Up Next:
The Gothic Knights return to action on the road once again this Saturday, Sept. 21, for a tri-match in Chester, Pa., on the campus of Widener University. NJCU first squares off with Neumann University at 12:00 p.m., followed by a 2:00 p.m. tilt with the hosting-Pride.
