Kings Point, NY – Senior middle blocker
COURTNEY LEPORE collected 13 kills along with three blocks while
COURTNEY MATLOCK added 12 kills as Montclair State swept past the Merchant Marine Academy on Thursday evening.
Sophomore
MADISON MAUTE added seven kills as the Red Hawks captured the match by scores of 25-20, 25-18, 25-18 to improve to 6-4 on the year.
MSU fell behind 5-1 in the opening set, but chipped away at the deficit and trailed 8-5 before ripping off seven consecutive points to take the lead. Matlock had back-to-back kills as did LePore as the Red Hawks led 12-8. The Mariners (5-3) answered with a 5-1 run to knot the set at 13-13 however Maute sandwiched a pair of kills around a Matlock kill making the score 16-13. Leading 19-17, Montclair ran off five points in a row, the last on a block by LePore, who closed out the set with a kill for the 25-20 victory.
Merchant Marine built a 6-4 lead in the second before Montclair countered with seven of the next eight points for an 11-7 lead. The Mariners got the next two points but the Red Hawks scored four straight taking a 15-9 advantage on a kill by LePore. MSU would maintain a 6-8 point lead the rest of the way and took the 2-0 lead in the match with the 25-18 win.
A five-point run early in the third set staked Montclair State to an 8-2 lead which later grew to 16-6 after Matlock put down consecutive kills.
REBECCA MATASKER added a kill pushing the lead to 21-9 however the Mariners battled back trimming the lead to 24-18 with four-point run. But LePore dashed any hopes of a comeback with her 13
th and final kill as MSU completed the sweep with the 25-18 win.
KIMBERLY MATLOCK had 35 assists and eight digs for Montclair with libero
DANIELLE OLCESE recording a team-high 16 digs.
MELISSA TERPSTRA and
NATALIA MAJKUT had five kills each with
ASHLEY GRIFFITH and
NIKKI SENOPOULOS getting 13 and nine digs respectively.
The Red Hawks are now off until Tuesday, September 22 when they travel to Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ for a 7:00 pm NJAC matchup with the Profs.
