Montclair, NJ – Sophomores Melissa Terpstra (Midland Park, NJ, Midland Park) and Leah Stine (Bridgewater, NJ, Bridgewater-Raritan) each collected 10 kills as did freshman Madison Maute (Sparta, NJ, Sparta) as Montclair State knocked off Rutgers-Newark in four sets in a New Jersey Athletic Conference match at the Panzer Athletic Center on Tuesday.

Freshman Hayley Merrill (West Windsor, NJ, West Windsor-Plainsboro South) added eight kills as the Red Hawks (19-6, 3-2 NJAC) extended their winning streak to five with their third consecutive victory over the Scarlet Raiders (12-7, 2-4 NJAC).  MSU won the match by set scores of 25-17, 25-14, 12-25, 25-22.

Freshman outside hitter Karolina Kopacz (Rutherford, NJ / Rutherford) had 11 kills for Rutgers-Newark with freshman libero Sue Riley (Rahway, NJ / Roselle Catholic) racking up a match-high 20 digs.

Terpstra, the NJAC Player of the Week, collected nine points in the first set on six kills and three aces with Rebecca Matasker (Washington Township, NJ, Westwood) added three kills. Back-to-back kills by Matasker and Stine staked Montclair to an 8-2 which would be trimmed to 15-14 on a kill by the Scarlet Raiders' Sharee Gordon (Newark, NJ / University).  Montclair then led 19-17 before ripping off the final six points, including consecutive aces by Terpstra to close out the set.

Stine paced MSU in the second with five kills, including one that gave the Red Hawks an 8-5 advantage. She later added one to widen the lead to 17-10 and her final kill of the set put Montclair in front 21-12. Following a pair of points by Rutgers-Newark, Terpstra put down two kills and Stine aced the final two points as Montclair went up 2-0 with the 25-14 victory.

Rutgers-Newark did not go away as the Scarlet Raiders took full advantage of nine hitting error by the Red Hawks in the third set. Gordon and Kopacz had two kills each with Gordon's second giving the Raiders a 23-12 lead.  A service error and attack error by MSU finished off the set as Rutgers-Newark got back into the match with the 25-12 triumph.

The Scarlet Raiders led 5-4 in the fourth set before Terpstra began a run of five straight points by the Red Hawks capping it off with an ace. MSU would maintain the lead and then extended it to 17-12 on a service ace by Lily Scanzillo (Upper Saddle River, NJ, Northern Highlands). An attack error put Montclair in front 20-14 however Rutgers-Newark captured six of the next nine points closing the gap to 23-20. Maute and Courtney Matlock (Jackson, NJ, Jackson Memorial) combined on a block to bring MSU within one of the match however the Raiders got two back on MSU miscues making the score 24-22. Maute then put down a free ball for the final point.

Terpstra added a team-best 17 digs for the double-double with Angela Campo (Washington Township, NJ, Westwood) getting a double-double of 38 assists and 11 digs. Scanzillo had 15 digs for the Red Hawks.

Gordon had eight kills and three blocks for Rutgers-Newark which got 13 digs from Kopacz and 15 digs by Kathy Hormaza (Morristown, NJ / Morristown).

The Red Hawks are back in action on Thursday, October 16 with another NJAC match. MSU faces Kean University at the Harwood Arena in Union at 7:00 pm.The Scarlet Raiders are home to Ramapo on the same evening.