Box Score
 
NEWARK, NJ—Utah Valley, which entered play in a three-way tie atop the Great West Conference women's volleyball standings, edged NJIT, 3-2 (25-21, 23-25, 25-20, 19-25, 15-7) Thursday night in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
The teams traded set wins through the first four, all of which were closely contested, before the Wolverines clinched the match in decisive fashion, taking the fifth set, 15-7.
 
The win lifts Utah Valley to 5-1 in the Great West, giving it a half-match lead in the standings over two-time defending champion North Dakota and Houston Baptist, each of whom are 4-1. The Wolverines are 16-7 overall. The loss drops the Highlanders to 2-4 in the GWC and to 7-14 overall.
 
Thursday's close match was a marked improvement for the Highlanders from earlier in the month, when Utah Valley won the home leg of the home-and-home season series between the teams on October 8, 3-0 (25-15, 25-11, 25-10).
 
The Highlanders lost the return match with UVU despite getting three individual double-doubles. Junior Renata Pandolfo finished with a match-best 18 kills, plus 17 digs, while junior Janet Snell collected 13 kills and 22 digs. Cathy Leung, playing more extensively than in previous matches due to an injury to starting middle Fernanda Lima, posted her first career double-double with 11 kills and 14 digs.
 
NJIT's junior setter Anna Mercado finished with a match-best 38 assists to start the attack and three different servers had an ace apiece for the Highlanders, as that category was a standoff, 3-3.
 
On defense, Audrey Snell, the senior libero, finished with a match-high 25 digs, joining the other three Highlanders who had double-figure digs totals.
 
NJIT, playing without its season blocks leader Lima, was beaten in team blocks, 14-8. The individual blocking leaders for the Highlanders were Pandolfo (1 block solo, 3 block assists) and Julia Colombo (4 block assists).
 
Utah Valley got kills from 10 different players, paced by seniors Sarah Clement (16) and Chelsey Heaps (12). The Wolverines also used two setters, with senior Rachel Anderson posting 30 assists and sophomore Brookelyn Campbell adding 17. As with NJIT, the three UVU aces came from three different players.
 
Patti Flagg led the Wolverines defense on the floor, as she had 18 digs, followed closely by 17 for Heaps. The 6-foot-2 Clement was the individual blocking leader for the winners with eight total (1 solo, 7 assists) and junior Erica Nish added six block assists. Utah Valley had the one block solo by Clement, plus 13 combination blocks.
 
Utah Valley won the first set, 25-21, taking charge in the middle, as the Wolverines broke a 9-9 tie with a 6-2 spurt that featured a pair of kills and the block solo for Clement. Down, 11-15, NJIT pulled back within a point at 14-15, but four straight Highlander errors put the visitors back in control and UVU led by at least three the rest of the set.
 
Both teams struggled hitting in the second set, won by NJIT, 25-23, as Utah Valley's attack percentage was .056 and NJIT's was .045. There were nine tie scores in the set, the last at 21-21, before the Highlanders gained the upper hand with two straight points, the second on a block from Pandolfo and Gretchen VonKoenig. With the Highlanders up, 23-21, the teams traded points to set point, a kill by Colombo.
 
Utah Valley took the third set, paced by senior Jaicee Kuresa, who notched six of her seven kills for the night in the one set. The Wolverines scored the first four points, but the Highlanders used a five-point spurt to turn a 10-13 deficit into a 15-13 lead. The set was tied at 18-18 when the visitors closed out the set 7-2 for the 25-20, as Kuresa had three kills on her team's last four points.
 
The Highlanders used their best hitting set of the night (.258) to score a 25-19 win in the fourth set to pull even with Utah Valley at two sets apiece. The two top NJIT hitters were strong, as Pandolfo had six kills and one error in the frame and Janet Snell had four kills and one error. The Highlanders built an early 11-4 lead and led by at least three points on the way to winning the set.
 
Having failed to close out the match in the fourth set, Utah Valley left nothing to chance in the second set, hitting seven kills with just one error in 14 attacks (.429). The score was tied 1-1, but the Wolverines ran off a 6-1 spurt for a commanding 7-2 lead. They eventually went up 12-4, before NJIT made a small 3-2 rally that ended when Clement earned match point, 15-7, with 16th kill of the night.
 
The Highlanders will be back in action on Saturday at 3 pm, when they hosted North Dakota in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center. The Fighting Sioux defeated the Highlanders in Grand Forks, ND, on October 6, 3-0 (25-15, 25-10, 25-19).