New London, CT -  The Montclair State volleyball team earned a split of its two matches on Saturday at the Bear Invitational held at the United States Coast Guard Academy. The Red Hawks (2-1) blanked Suffolk University 3-0 before suffering its loss against the host Bears in straight sets.

Against Suffolk, MSU stormed out of the gate posting a .440 hitting percentage en route to a 25-12 win in the first set. The torrid hitting would settle down for the final two sets as Montclair rode the early momentum to a 25-21 win in the second set and a 25-13 victory in the third set.

Senior Erika Gerner (Sparta, NJ, Sparta) led a balanced attack with 10 kills in addition to three service aces and a pair of digs. Allyssa Angel (Flemington, NJ, Hunterdon Central) added six kills with Courtney Matlock (Jackson, NJ, Jackson Memorial) and recording four. Leah Stine (Bridgewater, NJ, Bridgewater-Raritan) and Rebecca Matasker (Washington Township, NJ, Westwood) added four apiece. Senior setter Angela Campo (Washington Township, NJ, Westwood) led Montclair with 17 assists with Alyssa Plum (Williamstown, NJ, Williamstown) and Kimberly Matlock (Jackson, NJ, Jackson Memorial) adding eight and five, respectively.

Freshmen liberos Lily Scanzillo (Upper Saddle River, NJ, Northern Highlands) and Jenifer Ramirez (Bogota, NJ, Bogota) combined for 22 digs.

In the match with Coast Guard, the Red Hawks dropped a close first set 26-24 with the Bears taking the next two sets by scored of 25-16 and 25-18 to hand MSU its first loss.
Freshman Hayley Merrill (West Windsor, NJ, West Windsor-Plainsboro South) led Montclair State with nine kills with Courtney Matlock added seven. Melissa Terpstra (Midland Park, NJ, Midland Park), Madison Maute (Sparta, NJ, Sparta) and Kylie Freer (Wayne, NJ, Mount St. Dominic) had five apiece for the Red Hawks. Campo notched 18 assists in the match with Kimberly Matlock getting 11. Terpstra led all MSU players with 14 digs while Scanzillo collected 13.

The Red Hawks are now off until Saturday, September 6 when they make their home debut at the Panzer Athletic Center for a quad match. Montclair will face John Jay, Cedar Crest and the United States Merchant Marine Academy with the entire day's action beginning at 1:00 pm.