Box Score
NEWARK, NJ—Visiting Iona tuned up for what it hopes will be a run at its conference women's volleyball championship with a non-conference sweep of NJIT, 3-0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-21) Thursday night in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center, as the Highlanders closed their 2013 schedule.
Iona, 15-13 overall after Thursday's victory, is 12-5 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference with one MAAC match remaining. The Gaels are one game behind leader Manhattan, which lost to NJIT on October 16, and has a 13-4 MAAC record. But there are five teams all within a game-and-a-half of each other in the MAAC standings and only four will advance to the conference tournament.
Iona has won its last three matches, 9-of-10, and 14-of-17.
NJIT completes its 2013 season with a 7-15 record.
Junior middle Catrina Warren notched a match-best 15 kills for Iona, followed by 10 kills for senior outside hitter Alijca Pawelec. Each hitter made just 3 errors and Warren had a .353 attack percentage, as did Taylor Cembalisty (9 k, 3 e, 17 att). Middle McKenzie Humann added 8 kills on 15 swings, without an error (.533).
Setter Natalie Ziskin, the reigning MAAC Offensive Player of the Week, collected 40 assists for the Gaels, who got aces from three different players.
NJIT, which didn't have a hitter with double-figure kills, was topped by
Cathy Leung, who put down 7 kills in her last match as a Highlander.
Valerie Carroll and
Danica Vukotic added 6 kills apiece for NJIT.
Leung served 5 aces, leading NJIT to a 7-3 advantage in that department. Leung's 5 aces are her career-best and the most by a Highlander since
Camilla Tinari served 5 aces vs. Princeton on September 2, 2011.
With two players sharing the setting responsibilities,
Fran Edmondson had 16 assists for NJIT and
Grace Gao had 8.
On defense, the blocking was nearly even, with Iona getting 4.5 team blocks to 4 for the Highlanders. Pawelec and Shannon Ward led the winners with 3 block assists each and Carroll, Edmondson, and
Julia Colombo, another senior ending her NJIT career, all had a pair of block assists for the home teams.
On the floor, three NJIT players had at least 10 digs, paced by
Danica Vukotic (14), with 13 for
Katie Goswick and 10 for Leung. Madisyn Spence of Iona recorded 17 digs, followed by 13 from Pawelec and 11 for Warren.
Iona set the tone for its sweep with a 25-16 win in the opening set, led by 6 kills for Warren, who surpassed the NJIT team total of five kills. The Gaels broke a 9-9 tie and went on an 8-2 run to take control, with half of the kills in the spurt going to Warren.
The last two sets were closer, beginning with 25-20 for Iona in the second set. Warren, Pawelec, nHumann combined for 14 kills and only two errors in the set, helped to negate Leung's strong effort for NJIT (6 kills, 0 errors, 14 att., .429).
NJIT opened the frame 8-4, but Iona came back, going up for good at 13-12 and led 21-14 before winning by five.
Iona's clinching win in the third set saw nine ties, the latest at 21-21, before the Gaels closed out with the last four points of the set and match, the last three coming on hits out of bounds by NJIT.
Leung, Colombo, and
Gretchen VonKoenig, who were recognized in pre-match ceremonies on November 3, all wore the red and white for the final time against Iona.
