Box score
NEWARK, NJ—NJIT scored one of the biggest women's volleyball victories in the school's Division I era, stopping visiting Seton Hall, 3-1, Wednesday night in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
NJIT took the first, third and fourth sets, losing only the second. The score was: 25-22, 13-25, 25-22 and 25-18.
The win for the Highlanders, now 3-6 on the season, was their first ever in women's volleyball against a team from the powerful BIG EAST Conference. Seton Hall came into Wednesday's match with a 5-5 record.
NJIT, which is in its third season facing Division I competition, defeated Providence in 2007, but Providence, which is a founding member of the BIG EAST, is not a conference member in women's volleyball.
Last season at South Orange, NJ, Seton Hall scored a hard-fought 3-2 win over NJIT.
The Highlanders got a huge boost with the season debut of junior Erica Shultz, who played for the first time this season after missing the first eight matches. She had 37 assists and 10 digs, plus three block assists in her 2008 debut.
The NJIT attack had three players with double-figure kills totals and two of them—Kristy Haeckel and Agnieszka Pregowska—had high hitting percentages of .320 and .318, respectively. They each had 10 kills, while freshman Renata Pandolfo notched 12 kills.
Junior libero Sabrina Baby produced a match-high and a team season-high 29 digs for NJIT. Pandolfo, the freshman, had 16 to go with 10 for Schultz. Haeckel was a force at the net against the bigger, taller Pirates, as she got a match-best seven blocks (two solo, five assists).
Seton Hall freshman Rachel Thornquist led everyone with 16 kills and Meghan Matusiak added 10 kills. Senior setter Brittany Rahrer handed out 39 assists.
The Pirates, who had an 8-4 team advantage in services aces, were paced by four aces from Tricia Meyers. Allie Matters had 18 digs to lead three Hall players with double-figures in that category and Rahrer, Meyers and Krissy Wrobel all had five block assists apiece to lead their defense at the net.
The Highlanders gained the upper hand with a 25-22 win in the first set, as Schultz had 13 assists and Pandolfo picked up four kills.
NJIT trailed for much of the set, dropping behind, 6-11, early and still trailing at 17-20. But the Highlanders ran off a 6-1 spurt, grabbing a 22-21 lead on a Seton Hall attack error. The Pirates pulled back even at 22, but NJIT claimed the set with three straight points, with Haeckel delivering the kill for set point.
Seton Hall dominated the second set for a 25-13 win, but the Highlanders came back with another 25-22 win in the third. Haeckel and Pandolfo each had four kills, while Schultz picked up 11 more assists.
Although they didn't fall in quite as deep a hole as they had in the first set, it wasn't until late that the Highlanders took control, getting their first lead at 20-19 and going ahead for good, 23-22, on another kill for Haeckel.
NJIT trailed by as many as four points, 8-12, early in the closing set, but the Highlanders went ahead to stay at 14-13 on Pandolfo's kill that was part of a 7-0 run that saw the score go from 13-11 for the visitors to 18-13 for NJIT.
Seton Hall never got closer than five the rest of the way and the Highlanders eased home with the 25-18 win in the fourth to claim the match.
NJIT will play three matches on Friday and Saturday in the Red Flash Invitational, hosted by Saint Francis (PA) in Loretto, PA. The Highlanders will open the tournament on Friday at 5 pm against Columbia.
