Bridgewater State (MA) Box / Wentworth Box

New York, NY - The Montclair State volleyball team gave new head coach Eddie Stawinski wins in his first two matches on Friday as the Red Hawks opened their 2011 season with a pair of straight-set wins in the first day of round-robin competition at the NYU Labor Day Invitational at the Coles Sports Center.

MSU, off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 2008, defeated Bridgewater State (MA) and Wentworth Institute of Technology 3-0 in their half of pool play. Montclair will face College at Brockport on Saturday morning at 9:00 am in its final pool play match. A win would put Montclair into the first-place match at 3:00 pm while a loss would send the Red Hawks into the third-place match also scheduled for 3:00 pm.

MSU won by narrow margins in each of their sets in the opener versus Bridgewater State. The Red Hawks led comfortably in each game, but needed to hold on in winning by scores of 25-23, 25-22 and 25-21.

Sophomore outside hitter Marta Topor (Bogota, NJ, Bogota) had 11 kills, five service aces and 18 digs to lead Montclair against the Bears. Sophomore middle blocker Sara Girgus (Green Brook, NJ, Watchung Hills) added seven kills, five aces and two blocks with freshman outside hitter Daniella Salemo (Ramsey, NJ, Ramsey) contributing 13 digs and freshman setter Angela Campo (Washington Township, NJ, Westwood)had 20 assists.

The match with Wentworth provided some drama for Montclair State. The Red Hawks won the last three points of the match to win Game One, 25-23. MSU kept the momentum, jumping out to a 13-1 lead in the second game before winning 25-11 to go up 2-0. Montclair repeated its first game dramatics by again rallying to win the final three points to close out the match, 26-24.

Salerno provided the spark against the Leopards with 11 kills and 10 digs with Topor adding eight kills. Campo had 26 assists with four service aces in the match.