Nov. 12, 2006

Box Score

FAIRFIELD, CT - New Jersey Institute of Technology put a smashing exclamation point on the close of its first season of women's volleyball facing NCAA Division I competition, sweeping Sacred Heart, 3-0, for the Highlanders 10th win of the season in their 2007 finale Sunday afternoon.

NJIT, playing a lineup consisting entirely of freshmen and sophomores, scored a 30-26, 30-22, 30-28 win on the road to finish off a fine season that saw them finish at 10-21, as they won four of their last six matches and posted a 7-7 record over the last 14.

Rookies Kristy Haeckel and Kasha Hornstein led the attack, combining for 26 kills, as they each had attack percentages well over .300. Hornstein's attack percentage was .357 (12 kills, 2 errors, 28 attempts) and Haeckel's was .333 (14 kills, 4 errors, 30 attempts).

The two freshmen helped raise the team's level of play from the beginning of the season and they continued to improve throughout. Haeckel led the team in kills per game (2.78), blocks per game (0.81) and was second in aces per game (0.44). Hornstein was second in kills per game (2.72), second in digs per game (3.17) and third in aces per game (0.37).

On Sunday, Haeckel and Hornstein joined classmate Sabrina Baby with double-figure digs totals. Haeckel had 12 digs, while Baby and Hornstein each had 10. Baby, who came to NJIT from Brazil, was the season leader in service aces (0.61 per game) and digs (3.79 per game).

Last year, Agnieszka Pregowska and Danielle Thompson led the Highlanders as freshmen. Both continued as strong contributors in their sophomore campaigns. Pregowska, who had nearly 1,500 attack attempts as a rookie, saw her attack attempts go to 837, as the NJIT offense became much more balanced, with four different players attempting at least 725 attacks.

Still, Pregowska was third with 2.69 kills a game, third with 2.56 digs per game and third in blocks, with 0.51 per game. She was second on the team, accounting for 3.32 points per game, just ahead of Hornstein's 3.22 points per game and trailing Haeckel's 3.73 points per game.

Thompson, the setter, averaged 9.56 assists per game, up from 9.07 per game a year ago. She was fourth with 1.9 digs per game. On Sunday, she had a match-best 39 assists.

The 2006 team was also bolstered by the return of sophomores Kubra Tanrikulu and Rebecca Wilkinson, each of whom had started as freshmen in 2004, but redshirted in 2005. The versatile Tanrikulu was fourth, with 2.29 points per game, fourth in kills and digs and fifth in service aces per game. Wilkinson returned to the middle and was second in blocks (0.54 per game).

While coach Ryan McNeil's program had the rare distinction of winning more matches in its first season at the Division I level than it had in its final season of Division II competition, the future looks even brighter, with only one departing senior on the entire roster and three freshmen and four sophomores as the regular starters and libero.