Montclair, NJ (10/05/04) - Junior Lauren Shears collected 23 kills, including six in the decisive fifth game as William Paterson topped Montclair State, 3-2, in New Jersey Athletic Conference volleyball action at Panzer Gymnasium on Tuesday evening.

Jessica McKenna had 32 assists and 20 digs for the Lady Pioneers (12-6, 2-2 NJAC), who won their second straight match. Montclair State took the first game, 30-27 before WPU won the next two 30-19 and 30-18. The Red Hawks forced a deciding game with a 31-29 triumph in the fourth game however William Paterson took the final game, 15-9.It was the second consecutive year that the teams battle through five sets. Last year, William Paterson rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win in Wayne.

Sophomore HEATHER ACIZ had 17 kills and 13 digs to lead Montclair State (6-17, 1-3 NJAC), which suffered its sixth straight loss. In the final game,

Montclair took a 2-0 lead, but William Paterson scored the next five points as Jen Cirello put down a kill and Shears added two more for a 3-2 lead. After an MSU attack error, Kerri Lindenthaler added another kill to make the score 5-2. The Red Hawks would cut the lead to 5-4 but again Shears came through with three kills over the next four points to push the WPU lead to 9-4. TIFFANY ACIZ served two consecutive points to pull Montclair within 10-7, but Cirello got her second kill of he game for a 12-7 William Paterson advantage. Viviane Abreu would close out the match with an ace.

Cirello finished with six kills, three aces and 15 digs while Lindenthaler had four kills and 26 digs. ASIA LIVINGSTON had 15 kills for Montclair State while TIFFANY ACIZ added 13 kills and a team-high 20 digs. Sophomore ELYSE GRYWALSKI recorded 49 assists for Montclair State, which also got 14 digs from JANIRE LEBRON .