Box Score Box Score


NEWARK, NJ—NJIT opened the women's volleyball season with a challenging 3-0 sweep of visiting Saint Peter's Wednesday night in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
The Highlanders won all three sets, but they trailed Saint Peter's (0-4) by significant scores in each of the opening two frames before clinching the third set with relative ease.
 
NJIT went down 7-12 in the first set before finishing with the 25-22 win. The Highlanders trailed the second set, 1-7 and 9-13, and did not go ahead to stay until 21-20 of a 25-23 win. NJIT trailed the third set by two points twice in the early stages and again at 10-11 but never trailed after going up 12-11 as part of a 12-2 run that featured all five of Edmondson's kills in the match. The Highlanders built 10-point lead in the third set at 22-12 and 23-13, before the Peacocks went on a 6-1 run that closed the gap to 24-19 before SPU succumbed.
 
NJIT had fewer kills than Saint Peter's, 36-39, but the visitors were hurt by 22 attack errors, compared to nine for NJIT. That difference gave NJIT a 13-point advantage in opponents' hitting errors, which accounted for much of the 11 more points scored by the Highlanders in the match.
 
Camilla Tinari paced the victorious Highlanders in kills with nine, while Valerie Carroll and Fran Edmondson each had five kills without an error, and Cathy Leung notched five kills with one error.
 
Redshirt freshman Grace Gao made her NJIT debut at setter, collecting 25 assists and two kills. Julia Colombo led the Highlanders serving, providing two of the team's four aces.
 
On defense, NJIT had 57 digs, led by 17 for Katie Goswick and 13 for Tinari. With three team blocks, the individual leader was Carroll, who had three blocks assists.
 
Saint Peter's had two hitters with double-figure kills totals, headed by 15 from senior Laura Reinhart, followed by 10 for freshman Amanda Colombo. Reinhart added two aces to lead SPU, which had five as a team. Setter Kristina Baehr led all players with 29 assists.
 
Saint Peter's, which had three total team blocks, got a block solo and a block assist from Meredith Pryzbocki. Jenny Pliska led the way for the Peacocks' floor defense, producing a match-best 27 digs.
 
Trailing the first set, 12-15, NJIT went on a 7-1 run, with four of the points coming after Goswick serves. Even so, the score was just 19-18 until two kills for Julia Colombo and one for Tinari, plus an SPU error, made it 22-18 and NJIT led by at least two points en route to the 25-22 win.
 
Trailing the second set all the way to 21-20, NJIT ran off a four-point spurt that flipped an 18-20 deficit to 22-20. Colombo had a kill and an ace in the decisive spurt by the Highlanders/
 
NJIT took the third set, 25-19, as Edmondson generated five kills in seven swings and Tinari added four kills for the Highlanders.
 
Next up for NJIT is a trip to New York this weekend, where the Highlanders will play three matches in the Terrier Invitational, hosted by St. Francis Brooklyn. The Highlanders will take on the host team on Friday evening and then meet Howard and Rider on Saturday afternoon.