Box Score
NEWARK, NJ—NJIT made it two wins in as many starts in the Halloween Classic women's volleyball tournament, following up Friday night's 3-0 win over Providence with another 3-0 win against Bryant midday Saturday in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
NJIT took a big early lead in Saturday's first set, but Bryant came back, forcing the Highlanders to hold on in a 25-22 win. The Highlanders then wrapped up the match with relatively comfortable wins in the second and third sets, 25-16 and 25-14, respectively.
The Halloween Classic host Highlanders, who are scheduled to play Howard in the tournament finale at 4 pm on Saturday, are now 15-11 overall, with three straight wins.
Bryant is 16-15 this year in its first season of Division I competition. The Bulldogs, who were 32-13 and advanced to the postseason NCAA Division II region final in 2007, finished 1-2 this weekend in NJIT's Halloween Classic. They defeated Howard, 3-1, on Friday, but lost twice on Saturday, falling to Providence and NJIT by identical 3-0 scores.
NJIT was much more effective on the attack than were the visiting Bulldogs, reflected in a 38-21 advantage in kills for the Highlanders.
Renata Pandolfo, who also led NJIT's floor defense with a match-best 15 digs, shared the team kills lead with sophomore Baaba Hughes at 12 kills apiece. Pandolfo's hitting percentage was an impressive .391, with 12 kills and only three errors in 23 swings. Erica Schultz set 29 assists for the Highlanders.
Five different Highlanders had one service ace apiece and Sabrina Baby was right behind Pandolfo for match digs honors, coming up with 14 digs.
NJIT had a fairly narrow 8-6 team blocking advantage, but the lion's share of the blocking came from junior Kristy Haeckel who registered seven individual blocks (two solo, five assists).
Bryant's kills leader was freshman Hilary Andrews, with six, while setter Julie Geonnotti finished with 11 assists. Maria Scocca led the Bulldogs in service aces (3) and blocks (5, all assists) and Delia Glover was the team digs leader with 13.
NJIT opened the match with an 11-4 lead in the first set and went up by as many as 11 points, 19-8.
The lead was still comfortable at 23-15, before Bryant made it difficult for the Highlanders to claim the last two points. Five straight Bulldog points closed the gap until NJIT made it 24-20 and then the visitors picked up two more points before a Bryant service error yielded set point to the Highlanders.
The conclusion of the first set was the last real tension for NJIT, as NJIT opened up early 6-1 and then 12-2 leads and never led by fewer than four points en route to a 25-16 second-set win.
Bryant opened a 5-2 lead to begin the third set and later went up 11-7 before the Highlanders mounted a 12-0 run that turned a four point deficit into a 19-11 lead. Pandolfo had four kills in the decisive run.
Providence and Howard were set to play in the next match at 2 pm, followed by the Highlanders against Howard.
