Box Score
 

NEWARK, NJ—The NJIT women's volleyball team opened the home portion of its 2014 season with a 3-1 victory over visiting Saint Peter's Wednesday night in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
The Highlanders (3-2) won the first set and the fourth set by identical 25-22 scores and the teams traded lopsided set wins in the middle. Saint Peter's (0-2) rolled to a 25-12 win in the second frame, drawing even in sets, 1-1. NJIT responded with a 25-13 win of its own in the third set before clinching the match in four sets.
 
Junior Danica Vukotic and senior Valerie Carroll keyed NJIT's attack, with Vukotic knocking down a match-best 17 kills from the outside and Carroll adding 10 kills from the middle.
 
Freshman setter Alyssa Armada triggered the offense with 34 assists for the Highlanders, her third match with at least 34 assists in the team's five matches to date.
 
NJIT served seven aces, paced by a match-high 3 from senior Fran Edmondson, who also shared the team lead on the defensive side, with 8 digs. Nina Vukotic, the twin sister of hitting leader Danica, also finished with 8 digs.
 
Freshman Tess Albyn led the Highlanders at the net, notching 5 block assists, followed closely by 4 block assists for Edmondson. Armada, the setter, had the home team's only block solo of the night.


 
Saint Peter's got 15 kills from senior Dayana Arrufat and 11 from junior Lauren Behrens. Senior setter Kristina Baehr collected a match-high 38 assists and the Peacocks finished with six service aces as a team, paced by two for senior Brittany Smith.
 
On defense, SPU freshman Kayla Howell led all players with 13 digs and sophomore Amanda Colombo added 11 digs.
 
Saint Peter's, with an 8-7 edge in total team blocks, got 5 individual blocks (1 solo, 4 assists) out of Smith.
 
Danica Vukotic collected seven of her 17 overall kills in the tight opening set that saw NJIT go ahead to stay at 16-15, which started a 4-0 Highlander run keyed by 3 kills for Carroll. The Highlanders went up 24-18 on a kill by Nina Vukotic, but the Peacocks stayed alive on four straight points before Edmondson's kill clinched the frame, 25-22.
 
Saint Peter's dominated the second set, hitting .455 (12 kills, 2 errors, 22 attempts) as a team and leading by at least 10 from 16-6 on the way to a 25-12 victory.
 
As much as the visitors dominated the second set, NJIT reversed the tables, opening up 9-2 and leading by at least 10 from 19-9 to the end en route to a 25-13 win in the set.
 
The fourth and final set reverted to the close nature of Set One, which had seen 9 ties and 4 lead changes. The fourth frame had 6 ties and 3 lead changes, with NJIT snapping a 15-15 tie on an ace for Edmondson, who served three in a row, bringing her team from 13-15 to 16-15.
 
NJIT took its biggest lead of the set, 23-17 following back-to-back Danica Vukotic kills, but much as it had in the opening-set loss, Saint Peter's did not go quietly. The Peacocks ran off three points to close to 20-23, before Danica Vukotic put the Highlanders at the verge of match point with a kill that made the score 24-20.
 
SPU responded with two more points, making it 22-24, but Armada put up a beautiful set, with Danica Vukotic rising to nail an attack into the heart of the Saint Peter's floor defense.
 
NJIT, will play its next 14 matches away from home, beginning with a weekend trip to the St. Francis Brooklyn Terrier Invitational. NJIT will face host St. Francis on Friday at 7 pm and then take on Manhattan at 9 am on Saturday, followed by Hofstra later in the day at 1 pm.