Jersey City, NJ – Freshman
SIYARA HERBERT, the NJAC Rookie of the Week, registered 11 kills along with three aces and four digs as Montclair State swept past New Jersey City University in its final conference match on Tuesday evening.
Montclair State, which posted its ninth consecutive victory over the Gothic Knights (12-14, 1-7 NJAC), won the match by scores of 25-7, 25-18, 25-23 to improve to 26-8 all-time against NJCU.
Freshman
MEGAN O'ROURKE recorded 28 assists along with four aces and four digs as the Red Hawks (13-16) locked up a first-round home match in the upcoming NJAC Tournament with the win. Montclair will host Rowan on Tuesday, October 31 at 7:00 pm.
The Red Hawks and Profs (12-16) each finished tied in conference play at 4-4 however Montclair won the tiebreaker by virtue of its five-set win over the Profs in Glassboro on October 3.
Montclair did not commit and attack error in the first set and hit .529 with
JILLIAN WILSON and
TA'MYA ALLEN each collecting three kills. MSU scored the first six points of the match including a pair of aces by
LILY SCANZILLO and led 15-3 after a seven-point spurt. A six-point run widened the lead to 21-4 before Herbert's kill ended the set and gave Montclair a 1-0 lead.
The hot hitting continued in the second set as the Red Hawks posted a .423 efficiency behind six kills by Herbert and five by junior
NATALIA MAJKUT. Trailing 3-1 early, MSU used a six-point run to go on top before NJCU battled back to tie the set at 9-9. Montclair scored six of the next eight points and another four-point run capped by a Majkut kill made the score 19-12. The Knights closed within 21-17 however the Red Hawks reeled off four the final five points to win the set 25-18 and take a two-set lead in the match.
The third set would be a more of a back-and-forth contest with four ties and a pair of lead changes. The Knights scored two straight tying the set at 23-23 on a kill from Naiomi Cintron. After an MSU time out, NJCU committed a service error putting the Red Hawks in front. Sophomore
CAITLIN LANGE closed out the match with her seventh kill as Montclair completed the sweep with a 25-23 victory.
Allend added six kills for MSU, which finished with a .386 hitting efficiency in the match. Majkut had five kills and two blocks. Scanzillo led MSU with five digs.
Montclair closes out its regular season this weekend in the New York Challenge at University of Rochester on Friday and Saturday. Montclair will face the host Yellowjackets on October 27 at 6:00 pm. MSU faces Fredonia and RIT on Saturday, October 28 at 10:30 and 12:30 respectively.
