Women's Volleyball | 11/2/2017 8:00:00 AM
Montclair, NJ – After knocking off Rowan University on Tuesday, the Montclair State volleyball team gets top-seeded Kean University in the semifinals of the NJAC Volleyball Championship on Thursday evening.
The second meeting of the season between the defending champion and fourth-seeded Red Hawks (14-19) and Cougars kicks off at 7:00 pm inside the Harwood Arena with the winner advancing to Saturday's championship match against the winner of Stockton and Ramapo. MSU is looking to advance to its third consecutive conference title match.
The regular-season champion Cougars won the in-season contest in Montclair back on September 19. After taking the first set 26-24, Montclair took the lead winning the next two 25-15 and 25-18. Kean tied the match with a 25-16 victory in the fourth before taking the decisive set 15-7. Vikki Stec and Sara Ridgeway had 10 kills apiece for the Cougars while
NATALIA MAJKUT totaled 15 for Montclair along with a pair of blocks. Ridgeway also had 11 blocks as Kean totaled 18 in the victory.
The teams are matching up in the NJAC Tournament for the sixth time with Kean winning three of the previous five matches. They first met in 1989 with the Cougars winning in straight sets. Nine years later it was MSU's turn as it swept past the Cougars in the 1998 semifinals. Kean won the 2000 semifinal match in four sets and it would be 12 years before they met again. The Cougars prevailed in that contest 3-1 in match that was moved to the Panzer Athletic Center after Superstorm Sandy left the Kean campus without power. MSU captured the most recent contest 3-1 in the semifinals two seasons ago.
MSU earned its way into semifinals after ousting Rowan at home in four sets. The Red Hawks breezed through the first two winning 25-11 and 25-14 before the Profs prevented a sweep with a 25-23 victory in the third. The Red Hawks closed out the match with a 25-22 victory in the fourth. Sophomore
SCHYLER WHITE and junior
APRIL DIANGELO combined for 27 kills in the win with five players reaching double digits for digs. Libero
LILY SCANZILLO led that group with 18 and Montclair got six blocks apiece from Majkut and
CAITLIN LANGE.
Majkut leads MSU with 233 kills with Wilson right behind at 225 and freshman
SIYARA HERBERT at 211. Junior
ASHLEY GRIFFITH has totaled 942 assists in addition to 38 aces, the latter number second on the team. Lange (104) and Majkut (92) give the Red Hawks presence at the net with a combined 196 blocks while Scanzillo leads the team in both digs (506) and aces (40).
Kean is enjoying one of its best season in recent history at 26-10, which includes recent losses to No. 6 Calvin and 14
th-ranked Millikin. The Cougars, who received a first-round bye, have won seven of their last eight contests heading into the semifinal. Ridgeway (350) and Stec (31) have each topped 300 kills for the season with Jess Larkin added 223 and Brett Harper 187. Brianna Calvano runs the offense with 917 assists and also has 27 service aces. Ridgeway and Larkin control the net with 124 and 122 blocks respectively and libero Kortnee Nelson has totaled 450 digs.
