Sept. 28, 2007

Box Score

NEWARK, NJ - In a battle of two well-matched teams, Utah Valley lost the first game, but fought back for a 3-1 women's volleyball win over host NJIT in the final match of the first day of the NJIT Invitational tournament Friday in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.

NJIT won game one, 30-25, before Utah Valley ran off wins of 30-25, 30-21 and 30-28.

Utah Valley, now 9-5 with four straight wins, was the only team to take two matches on Friday, as the Wolverines topped Columbia, 3-1, earlier.

NJIT and St. Francis (NY) each went 1-1 on the day, as the Highlanders beat St. Francis, 3-0, and the Terriers then beat Quinnipiac, 3-2. Columbia and Quinnipiac played one match apiece on Friday.

Jessica Endres was the story for Utah Valley, hammering 24 kills with just two errors in 47 attempts for a .468 attack percentage. She was one of five Wolverines with double-figure kills totals.

Kristi Lindley had 63 assists, Allyce Wilson had two service aces and 25 digs to lead the visitors in those categories. Three different Wolverines had three blocks.

Katrina Hornstein had 18 kills to lead the Highlanders offense, followed by 12 kills for Kristy Haeckel. Hornstein also had a team-best four service aces.

The two NJIT setters, Danielle Thompson and Erica Schultz combined for 41 assists--21 for Thompson. Sabrina Baby collected 22 digs and Kubra Tanrikulu had 16.

The Highlanders had a slight 9-7 advantage in team blocks, led by Agnieszka Pregowska, with four. Pregowska also had a team-leading .316 hitting percentage (7 kills, 1 error, 19 attempts).

NJIT jumped to a quick 9-2 lead starting game one and the Highlanders went on to a 30-25 win. Hornstein notched eight kills and Tanrikulu had five. The duo combined for 13 kills and just two errors in the frame.

Utah Valley evened the match at a game apiece topping out NJIT, 30-25, in the second game. Leading, 20-19, the Wolverines spurt to a 24-20 advantage, allowed NJIT to close to 25-23 and then closed out the game, 5-2, the rest of the way. Endres had five kills without an error to lead the visitors. Haeckel led the NJIT attack with four kills.

The Wolverines scored a comfortable 30-21 win in the third game led by Endres, who hit .583 (7 kills, 0 errors, 12 attempts). Utah Valley held NJIT to just nine kills, 25 zero attacks, as Wilson had seven digs and Lindley had five. Haeckel's five kills topped NJIT.

Andres had nine kills and one error in 14 attacks for a .571 percentage in game four. Lindley had 18 assists in the set. That helped offset a strong game for Hornstein, who had five kills without an error in 11 tries for a .455 hitting percentage.

NJIT's second-day matches are at noon against Quinnipiac and at 6 pm against Columbia. The day's other match is scheduled for 3 pm, with Columbia facing Quinnipiac.

The NJIT Invitational resumes on Saturday at 10 am with Utah Valley meeting St. Francis.