Sept. 21, 2006

Box Score

NEWARK, NJ - The University of San Francisco lifted its season record to 13-1, winning its 11th straight women's volleyball match, 3-0, over New Jersey Institute of Technology in the Highlanders' home opener Thursday night.

The Dons, whose only loss came against Arizona at Arizona on August 26, have posted six 3-0 wins and three more 3-1 wins in their 11-match winning streak.

Playing in front of a boisterous crowd that packed the temporary seating in the remodeled Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center gym, NJIT had its best result of the night in Game 1, falling 30-21. USF then secured the match with 30-15 and 30-16 scores in the second and third games, respectively.

Kristin Hasselberg had a match-high 12 kills for the Dons, while libero Haley Carroll picked up a match-high 16 digs. Defensive specialist Tiffany Woo added 10 digs and contributed 4 service aces for the winners. Carly Babin, a 6-foot-3 middle blocker, had 6 blocks to go with a dominant .700 attack percentage (8 kills, 1 errors, 10 attempts). Jamie Kartchner had 41 assists for San Francisco.

NJIT, playing its first season of NCAA Division I competition, competed hard and well throughout the match, but was unable to sustain any substantial runs, with kills hard to come by against the talented visitors from California.

The statistical leaders for the Highlanders were freshman Kasha Hornstein, with 5 kills and 10 digs; Danielle Thompson, with 14 assists and Agnieszka Pregowska, with 5 blocks and 13 digs. Pregowska, Hornstein and freshman Kristy Haeckel all had aces for the Highlanders, whose seven-player rotation included four sophomores and three freshmen.

NJIT will be off more than a week before heading to New Hampshire, where the Highlanders will take part in the Dartmouth Invitational on September 29 and 30.