Montclair, NJ – The Montclair State volleyball team is going back to the NJAC Championship Match. The second-seeded Red Hawks punched their ticket to the finals sweeping of third-seeded Stockton at the Panzer Athletic Center on Thursday evening.
LEAH HIGGINS and SKYLAR KOWALSKI combined for 15 kills as MSU dethroned the defending champions, 25-23, 25-16, 25-22. Montclair will face top-seeded Rowan University in the title contest on Saturday, November 6 in Glassboro, NJ at 1pm with the winner claiming the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Volleyball Championship.
It will be Montclair's ninth trip to the conference finals and second consecutive as it looks to capture its fourth title as it captured championships in 1997, 2007, and 2016.
Back to the win on Thursday evening which provided some historical significance. First, MSU registered its eighth 20-win campaign as it improved to 20-10 on the year. Meanwhile, head coach Eddie Stawinski, who has guided Montclair State to six of those 20-win seasons, earned his 200th career victory. Now in his 11th season, Stawinski, the all-time winningest coach, has posted a record of 200-127. Finally, the victory marked the first time that the Red Hawks have swept the Ospreys in 58 all-time meetings as Montclair earned just its sixth in the series. Four of those have come in the NJAC Tournament.
Higgins (nine digs) recorded eight kills with Kowalski and freshman KIARA POLANCO (six digs) each getting seven. Setter DELANEY ST. PIERRE added six along with 24 assists, three blocks, and 10 digs. VICTORIA TENNON chipped in with five kills and three blocks while Gianna Arais came up with five blocks. Libero KATELYN MONAGHAN totaled eight digs.
Tied at 10-all in the opening set, Montclair took advantage of four straight attack errors by the Ospreys and later added a three-point run for a 19-13 advantage. Stockton closed to 22-20, however Tennon had a kill with Kowalski adding one two points later making the score 24-21. Back-to-back kills from Teleyah Witherspoon and Aubrey Wentzel pulled the Ospreys within a point, but Kowalski ended that comeback bid with a kill as MSU went up 1-0 in the match with the 25-23 win.
The Red Hawks held a 5-4 lead in the second set until it scored 10 of the next 12 points, the last an ace from KATIE RODMAN putting Montclair in front, 15-6. A kill from St. Pierre started a 4-0 run that boosted the score to 21-10 with a Higgins kill setting up MSU at set point, 24-15. Montclair committed a service error, but the Ospreys gave it right back with an attack error on the final point.
The third set would go back and forth with Montclair State scoring two in a row for a 20-18 lead. The teams traded the next three leaving the score at 21-20 before MSU ripped off three straight on kills by Higgins and Polanco followed by an attack error leaving it one point shy of victory. Stockton posted the next two to get within 24-22, but the match ended as an attack by the Ospreys went off the mark.
The Red Hawks now turn their attention to Saturday's championship match where they will look to avenge a five-set loss to the Profs in Glassboro back on September 21.
