Sept. 26, 2007

Box Score

NEWARK, NJ - The NJIT women's volleyball team made quick work of visiting Fairleigh Dickinson, 3-0, in less than 90 minutes Wednesday night in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.

The Highlanders, who won for the fifth time overall, including 4-3 over the last seven matches, were rarely challenged once the score of any game reached the 20s. They swept to victory, 30-23, 30-24 and 30-22.

NJIT set the tone quickly, grabbing a 9-0 lead to start game one. Sabrina Baby picked up eight straight service points in the opening spurt.

Baby finished with one ace, but she, Danielle Thompson (3 aces) and Agnieszka Pregowska (1) all served to put the visiting Knights back on their heels with regularity. NJIT finished with a 7-2 advantage in service aces.

NJIT's Kristy Haeckel and FDU's Rebecca Tenney shared match kills honors, notching 12 apiece. Haeckel had a .375 attack percentage (12 kills, 3 errors, 24 attempts) and Pregowska was also efficient (8 kills, 2 errors, 19 attempts, .316 attack percentage).

NJIT, which uses two setters in most matches, got 20 assists from Erica Schultz and 19 from Thompson.

Baby had a typically strong defensive game, picking up 20 digs--10 more than any other player on the floor. Kubra Tanrikulu and Katrina Hornstein added 9 digs apiece for NJIT.

The team blocking was even at seven apiece, with Pregowska and Haeckel picking up four blocks apiece on a block solo and three block assists each.

FDU's assists leader was Karolina Kowalski, with 19, while Tenney and Lauren Lombardo each had 10 digs. Ali Philbrick had a match-high four blocks--all assisted--for the Knights.

The Highlanders avenged a 3-1 loss to FDU from the teams' last meeting in October 2006.

NJIT will be back in action on Friday at 1 pm against St. Francis (NY) in the first game of the two-day NJIT Invitational in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.

The NJIT Invitational features four matches each day with a continuous schedule from 1 pm past 7 pm on Friday and from 10 am past 6 pm on Saturday. NJIT's guests for the two-day Invitational will be Columbia, St. Francis, Quinnipiac, and Utah Valley.