NEWARK, NJ—NJIT used a season-best .365 team attack percentage to sweep visiting La Salle, 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-15) in non-conference women's volleyball Tuesday night in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.

The Highlanders (4-10) notched 44 kills, with just nine errors in 96 swings in posting the sweep of La Salle (3-13), a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference.

NJIT junior Janet Snell was the dominant hitter, posting 16 kills, twice the total of the next-highest player on either team. She also finished with a match-best two service aces.

Sophomore middle Gretchen VonKoenig, in her first start of the season, had eight kills with only one error in 12 attempts for a .583 hitting percentage. La Salle could not stop the other two NJIT middle hitters, either. Julia Colombo had five kills and no errors in nine attempts and Fernanda Lima added six kills, with two errors and 10 attempts.

Renata Pandolfo added seven kills from the outside for the Highlanders and Anna Mercado started the offense with 31 assists.

On defense, Audrey Snell's 10 digs led NJIT, while freshman Katie Goswick, who subbed in all three sets to serve, collected seven digs. Colombo finished with three blocks (one solo, two assisted) to pace NJIT, which had a 5-1 advantage in team blocks.

La Salle's most successful hitter was junior Samantha Tulskie, with eight kills. Senior Jacquelyn Mitrovich added six kills and made two errors in 13 tries for a .308 hitting percentage. Kourtney Clark set 22 assists for the visitors, who got their four service aces from four different players.

Junior Breanna Mazalewski finished with a match-best 11 digs for the Explorers, while Jennifer Whelan and Alex Kennedy combined on La Salle's only block of the night.

The teams were tied at seven points apiece in the opening set before NJIT used a 7-2 spurt to take control. La Salle trimmed the lead to two at 12-14 and later at 15-17, but that was as close as the Explorers came in NJIT's 25-20 win. Janet Snell had eight kills in the set.

The visitors played their best ball of the night early in the second set, jumping to a 10-4 lead. Trailing, 7-13, NJIT surged, 7-3, and closed to within two points. The Highlanders kept the momentum and went ahead at 18-17, their first lead since 1-0. Eventually, the surge pushed the Highlanders to 22-17, for a 15-4 run since they trailed by six earlier in the set. La Salle trailed by at least three the rest of the way before NJIT took the second set by the same score as the first set, 25-20.

The third set, won by NJIT, 25-15, was never close. The Highlanders, who never trailed, took a 7-1 lead to open the set and led by at least five points and as many as 11 (21-10 and 22-11) the rest of the set and match.

The Highlanders will have a quick turnaround, hosting Hofstra Thursday night in a 7 o'clock start in the Fleisher Athletic Center.