Oct. 27, 2007

Box Score

NEWARK, NJ - Agnieszka Pregowska led the attack and the blocking and Sabrina Baby led the floor defense in NJIT's 3-2 win over Sacred Heart in the final match of the NJIT Halloween Classic women's volleyball tournament.

The duo also set new individual match school Division I records, as Baby had 42 digs and Pregowska had 12 individual blocks against Sacred Heart.

The Highlanders defeated the Pioneers, 30-20, 28-30, 30-21, 28-30 and 15-10 in the Saturday evening match in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.

NJIT won all three of its contests in the two-day, round-robin Halloween Classic by identical 3-2 scores. Providence, which lost only to NJIT, finished 2-1, while Sacred Heart was 1-2 and Howard finished 0-3.

Their 3-0 record over the weekend raised the Highlanders' season wins total to 11, surpassing their total of 10 in 2006, their first season facing Division I competition.

Pregowska had a match-high 22 kills for NJIT, producing an impressive .486 attack percentage (22 kills, 4 errors, 37 attempts).

Baby, NJIT's stellar libero, set a new NJIT Division I match record with 42 digs against Sacred Heart. She surpassed her own record of 41, set this season in September and she finished the three-match, 15-game tournament with 120 digs (8 per game).

Baaba Hughes, who saw her most extensive action of the season with NJIT season kills leader Kristy Haeckel sidelined by injury, notched 16 kills. Katrina Hornstein added 15 kills.

Setter Erica Schultz had a match-high 54 assists for the Highlanders. Schultz who normally shares setting duties, was NJIT's primary setter in all three matches of the tournament due to an injury to her counterpart, Danielle Thompson. Schultz generated 120 assists (10.67 per game) in the tournament.

The Highlanders had a slight 10-9 advantage in service aces, led by Schultz and Kubra Tanrikulu, who had three apiece.

Along with Baby's record-setting match, four other Highlanders had at least 17 digs. Hornstein had 21, Schultz had 18 and Tanrikulu and Hughes had 17 apiece.

The Highlanders also enjoyed a 14-9 team blocking advantage against the Pioneers, led by Pregowska's DI school-record 12 blocks (7 solo, 5 assists).

Sacred Heart's attack was led by Christine Saipale and Annie Archer, with 13 kills apiece and Courtney Kidd-Kadlubek had 45 assists. The Pioneer defensive leaders were Sarah Joy with 19 digs and Alex Bavasi with six blocks.

The four-player all-Halloween Classic team, in addition to NJIT's Baaba Hughes was Sacred Heart's Saipale, Gazelle d'Artois of Howard and Sarah Fleming of Providence. Fleming is a senior and the other three are freshmen.

Match scores for the tournament on Friday were: Sacred Heart 3, Howard 1 and NJIT 3, Providence 2. On Saturday, NJIT beat Howard, 3-2. Providence took Sacred Heart and Howard by identical 3-1 scores and NJIT topped Sacred Heart in the finale, 3-2.

NJIT plays its next three matches on the road, beginning with a Wednesday visit to powerful American University in Washington, DC.