New York, NY – The Montclair State University Volleyball team (6-1) suffered its first loss of 2025 when they dropped a 3-0 decision to #25 Christopher Newport, 3-0 in the NYU Violets Tournament on Friday evening.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Montclair saw an early advantage, jumping out to a 7-2 lead, which was led by kills from four different players and two service aces from KASEY TRZASKA. CNU was able to swing momentum back into their favor with an 11-4 run that put them up 14-11. Kills from LUCY CORNELIUS, BREANNA CRAIG, and BRYN BAUTISTA put the game at a 15-15 stalemate, and the set went back-and-forth down the stretch. The Captains had a set-point opportunity at 24-22, but a service ace and a kill by Bautista sent the set into the win-by-two rule. Christopher Newport did not let the set linger too much longer with two straight points to seal a 26-24 set one win.
• CNU rode the momentum of the set one victory into the second set. They controlled almost all of the second frame with scores of 4-1, 7-2, 13-4, and 19-6. Montclair saw two kills from Bautista and a kill from CAMRYN MUUSS down the stretch, but the deficit was too great to overcome and they fell in set two, 25-12.
• It was a point exchange early on between the two teams in set three. Bautista, SOFIA DIPROFIO, and Muuss each collected kills to help Montclair jump out to a 5-4 lead. The Captains, however, swung momentum with a 10-2 run that jumped them out to a 14-7 advantage. After a 17-8 score, Montclair began to claw back with a 5-1 run that cut the lead to 19-14 with kills coming from DiProfio and Muuss, but a 6-1 run to a 25-15 win and closed out the clean sweep.
   

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Bautista led the way for Montclair with 11 kills and eight digs in the match.
• DiProfio tied a season high with six kills in the matchup.
• Cornelius tallied 21 assists, seven digs, and a block in the match.

 
FROM THE COURT

• "Unfortunately, tonight did not go our way. I thought we did a great job in the first set to come out aggressive all around. We made some mistakes that cost us the set. I think if we had taken the first set, it would have been a different game. CNU is a great team, and they played a solid all-around game limiting mistakes after that first set. We couldn't really overcome the momentum swing and fell behind after that. We have to use these matches and learn from them in order to move forward as the season continues." Head Coach Eduardo Stawinski

 
UP NEXT

• Montclair will look to bounce back and close the NYU Violet Tournament out with a win when they face off with host #22 NYU on Saturday, September 13 at 3:00 p.m.