Glassboro, NJ – The Montclair State volleyball team fell to Rowan University in five sets to suffer their first New Jersey Athletic Conference setback Tuesday.
The Red Hawks (4-7, 1-1 NJAC) were paced by 13 kills from
CARLY WATERMAN and 31 digs from
KATELYN MONAGHAN. Rowan (8-3, 2-0 NJAC) got 15 kills each from Brianna Newson and Natalie Ogden.
Rowan broke the first set open with an 8-0 spurt to grab an 11-3 advantage. The Red Hawks closed to within four, but Rowan battled back to regain the eight-point lead. Montclair fended off three set points thanks to a double-block from
NICOLE NAVARRO and
GIANNA ARIAS and an ace from Katie, but Rowan closed the frame with a kill.
Montclair raced out to an 11-4 lead, with Rodman serving up three straight points to close the run. Arias and rookie
NADYA ACKERMANIAN teamed for a block to force a Rowan timeout at 17-8 before
KIARA POLANCO extended the lead to double-digits with a kill. The hosts got to within seven T 20-13, but MSU leveled the match at one thanks to five points from Rodman, including two kills from Waterman.
With the third stanza score at 8-6 in favor of Montclair, the Red Hawks tallied four of the following six markers to grab firm control of the period.
DELANEY ST. PIERRE delivered six straight points, taking advantage of a quartet of errors by the Profs. Rowan clawed back to four points, but St. Pierre and
LEAH HIGGINS had back-to-back kills to put MSU up 2-1.
The Red Hawks trailed 8-3 in the fourth but cut the deficit to one after a double-rejection by
SKYLAR KOWALSKI and St. Pierre. The Red Hawks could not get any closer than four the rest of the way, as consecutive service aces by Monaghan trimmed the gap to 18-14. An Ogden kill once again made the match even, and the two sides would go to a fifth frame.
Montclair scored the first two points, but Rowan answered with 10 of the 13 to grab a 10-5 lead. The Red Hawks got within three after kills from Kowalski and Waterman, but Rowan put the match with a double-block by Courtney Rhoden and Isabel Kirchner on the match point.
The Red Hawks return home on Thursday, hosting Kean University at 7 pm.
