Rochester, NY – The Montclair State volleyball team opened up its New York Regional Challenge appearance with mix results on Friday evening as the Red Hawks split a pair of five-set matches.

MSU rallied in the final two sets to defeat Nazareth College for the second time this season before nearly coming back from a 2-0 deficit against University of Rochester. The split put Montclair State at 20-7 on the year marking the eighth time in program history and third in the last four that it has reached the 20-win mark.

Against Nazareth, sophomore CARLY WATERMAN finished with 20 kills and 20 digs as the Red Hawks took the match, 17-25, 25-17, 24-26, 25-20, 16-14. JILLIAN WILSON, who had six kills, snapped the tie in the fifth set with a kill and then served up an ace on match point to complete the comeback.

Freshman GIANNA ARIAS added 12 kills and seven blocks while LEAH HIGGINS chipped in with 11 kills and six digs. MEGAN O'ROURKE registered 47 assists and seven digs with MADDIE VALKO (two aces) and SIYARA HERBERT (three aces) netting 15 and 10 digs, respectively.

Higgins and Waterman shared honors with 12 kills apiece as MSU dropped the first to sets to Rochester 25-11 and 25-23 before storming back with 25-19 wins in both the third and fourth. The Yellowjackets would win the decisive fifth set, 15-9.

Senior SCHYLER WHITE posted 10 kills with Wilson adding nine. Waterman also had an outstanding defensive effort again with 21 digs. Valko and KATELYN MONAGHAN had 16 and 11 digs respectively with O'Rourke getting a double-double of 38 assists and 13 digs.

Montclair closes out its New York Regional appearance on Saturday, November 2 with two matches. The Red Hawks face RIT at 11 am followed by a 3pm contest with Fredonia.