NEWARK, NJ—NJIT women's volleyball isn't perfect anymore in 2009 from a micro perspective, but the Highlanders remained unbeaten, overtaking visiting Fairleigh Dickinson, 3-1, Wednesday night in the home opener in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.

NJIT had won its first 10 sets of the season before dropping a hard-fought second set, 25-27, to FDU Wednesday night.

A crowd of 675, believed to be the biggest ever to attend a women's volleyball match at NJIT, saw Highlander sophomore Renata Pandolfo generate a huge night with twin-twenties—20 kills and 21 digs. The 20 kills were match-high.

Senior libero Sabrina Baby shattered her own school Division I record for digs in a four-set match, getting 41 against the visiting Knights. She held the old mark with 32 in four sets vs. Harvard in 2007 and her effort Wednesday night came up just one short of her own record of 42, which she did in five sets against Sacred Heart in 2007.

Senior Kristy Haeckel, back in form after an injury-plagued junior season, notched eight kills and three blocks for NJIT. Senior setter Erica Schultz dished a match-best 37 digs and completed a double-double with 11 digs. Baaba Hughes also contributed 13 digs.

FDU (2-3), which split its two matches with NJIT last season (the visiting team won each time), got 15 kills and 21 digs from freshman Meaghan Wheeler, 29 assists and 24 digs from sophomore Sarah Willey, and three blocks from freshman Violeta Slabakova. Four Knights reached double-figures in digs and three of them reached 20, with Kelsey Semler (20) joining Willey and Wheeler.

The Highlanders, who swept three straight 3-0 wins in capturing the St. Francis (NY) tournament last weekend, rolled to a 25-17 win in Wednesday's opening set, but FDU

answered with a 27-25 win of its own in the second set.

The third set was similarly close, but NJIT used a strong finish to score a 25-22 to go back up in the match, 2-1, and then closed out the victory with a comfortable 25-16 fourth-set win.

The next action for the Highlanders will be in Central Connecticut State University's Blue Devil Invitational this weekend in New Britain, CT. NJIT will play three matches in two days, beginning with a 7 pm contest Friday against Hartford.