Box score
OREM, UT—Texas-Pan American won the second, third and fifth sets for a 3-2 women's volleyball win over NJIT in the final match of the 2008 season for both teams at the national Division I Independent Volleyball Championship postseason tournament Saturday at Utah Valley University's Shurian Family Activity Center.
NJIT, which posted a 1-3 mark in the two-day DI Independent tournament, finished its season with an overall record of 18-16.
NJIT women's volleyball reached some important milestones in its third season of reclassification to NCAA Division I from Division II.
This season's 18 wins are the most for NJIT women's volleyball since 1990, when the program, competing in Division III, finished 23-12. Until this year, the most wins for the program since that 1990 season had been 13, when the Highlanders finished 13-13 in their next-to-last Division II season.
Moving up to face Division I competition in 2006, NJIT won 10 matches at the new level that first season and then 13 in 2007, before making the jump to 18 wins this season.
In the 2008 season finale against Texas-Pan American, the third-seeded team in the five-team Division I Independent field, NJIT rolled to a 25-12 win in the first set, but the Broncs answered with a 25-22 win in the second set and then a 25-12 win of their own in the third set.
Facing elimination, the Highlanders took the fourth set, 25-19, but UTPA prevailed in the fifth, 15-9, to claim the match. Saturday's five-set loss was the third 3-2 loss for NJIT in its last six contests of the season.
Each team had three players reach double figures in kills, led by Texas-Pan Am's Kellie Phillips, who finished with 22 kills. Baaba Hughes was the NJIT kills leader with 16, followed by Katrina Hornstein (14) and Renata Pandolfo (11).
Bronc setter Chelsea Blakely led the way with 49 assists and her NJIT counterpart, Erica Schultz, finished with 41 assists.
Serve receive continued to be a problem for the Highlanders, as it had been in the previous two matches of the DI Independent tournament, and Texas-Pan American notched 10 aces, led by six for Marci Logan.
NJIT served six aces, led by Sabrina Baby, who fired three aces and also led the match with 26 digs. Pandolfo added 12 digs for the Highlanders and UTPA had four players with double-figure digs totals, led by Rebecca Toddy's 21.
The Highlanders had a significant team blocking advantage (7-to-2) and Kristy Haeckel was the individual leader for NJIT with five block assists. Pandolfo added three block assists. Four different players had block assists for UTPA.
The match against Texas-Pan American marked an end to the careers of NJIT seniors Agnieszka Pregowska and Danielle Thompson, who began their careers as the best players on NJIT's last Division II team in 2005. They continued as regulars in the first three season of Division I competition and Pregowska had seven kills and just one error on the attack, as well as the only solo block in her final career match against UTPA. Thompson had a service ace and two assists against the Broncs on Saturday.
Pregowska completes her career as the holder of five school Division I season and career records—games played-career (359); games played-season (140 in 2007); total blocks-season (111 in 2007); total points-career (790.5); and, total points-season (462 in 2007).
Thompson holds the NJIT season assists record in the Division I era, with 966 in 2006 and she is second in Division I career assists, with 1,636.
