Nov. 4, 2006

Box Score

NEWARK, NJ - Freshman Kristy Haeckel notched a season-best 30 kills, but New Jersey Institute of Technology fell short of victory, dropping Saturday's women's volleyball match, 3-2, to visiting Maryland Eastern Shore.

NJIT which outscored the visitors in points, 125-118, won its two games comfortably, but lost close in games two and three and then fell in game five. NJIT won the first game, 30-21, before UMES rallied in games two and three, 32-30 and 30-26. The Highlanders pulled even with a 30-20 win in the fourth game, before the Lady Hawks took the fifth game, 15-9, for the match..

Maryland Eastern Shore senior Melanie Durimel, who finished with 11 kills in the marathon two-hour, 20-minute match, got seven of her kills, including match point, in the deciding game. She had 7 kills and 0 errors in 9 attempts in the fifth game, after posting 4 kills, 5 errors and 30 attempts through the first four games.

The hard-fought loss featured a brilliant performance by NJIT's Haeckel, whose 30 kills were 10 more than anyone else in the match and 11 more than the previous season high for the Highlanders, who are playing their first season at the NCAA Division I level. She had 30 kills and 8 errors in 65 attempts for a .338 attack percentage.

Supporting Haeckel in the Highlander attack were Agnieszka Pregowska and Kasha Hornstein, with 17 kills apiece. Sophomore Danielle Thompson had a career-high 63 assists.

As they have for much of the season, the Highlanders had an advantage in the serving game, posting 7 aces to 2 for the visitors. Pregowska and Baby each had 2 aces.

On defense, Hornstein had a match-high 27 digs, followed closely by Baby, who had 25. Six of the seven NJIT players collected double-figure digs totals. The Highlanders had a 6-2 team blocking advantage, led by Pregowska, who had 2 block solos and 2 block assists.

Maryland Eastern Shore, which went to 16-13 with the win, got 20 kills and 20 digs from Caylin Woodward, while Yael Rozner had 50 assists and her team's only two service aces. Stephanie Braxton led the Lady Hawks' defense, with 22 digs.

NJIT stays at 8 wins on the season, with two matches remaining. The Highlanders will host Manhattan on Wednesday at 7 pm in the final 2006 home match and then visit Sacred Heart on November 12.