NEWARK, NJ—The NJIT women's volleyball team lost its final non-conference game of the season Wednesday night, falling to visiting Manhattan in straight sets in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
The Jaspers, who play in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, upped their overall record to 17-12 with Wednesday's victor. They won the first two sets comfortably, 25-15 and 25-14, before clinching the contest with a hard-fought 26-24 win in the third set.
 
The defeat drops NJIT's won-lost record to 6-21.
 
Both teams were plagued by errors throughout the match, but NJIT committed more errors than Manhattan did.
 
The Jaspers hit a modest .144 as a team, committing 16 attack errors to go with their 29 kills in 90 attempts. Nine of the visitors' 16 errors came on blocks by NJIT, as the Highlanders matched their fourth-highest total of the season in that department.
 
NJIT's team hitting percentage was significantly lower than Manhattan's, as the Highlanders committed 20 errors against 25 kills in 102 attempts, which resulted in a .049 hitting percentage. Tess Albyn (4 kills, 0 errors), Marija Tosic (3 kills, 0 errors), and Anneka Harris (5 kills, 4 errors) were the only NJIT individuals with more kills than errors in the attack. Eighteen of NJIT's 20 attack errors were on errant swings, as the Jaspers had just two total team blocks.
 
The Highlanders also struggled with the accuracy of their serves, committing 13 errors against two aces. They also matched their season high with five ball handling errors. Manhattan had nine service errors and one ball handling error.
 
Senior outside hitter Claire Van Dyk led the winning Jaspers with 10 kills and sophomore middle Marissa Behrens added seven kills and Manhattan's senior setter Teodora Peric generated a match-best 17 assists. Van Dyk and Milena Janjusevic each served two aces for the Jaspers.
 
On defense, Van Dyk's 13 digs were match-high, while Janjusevic notched 11 digs. Van Dyk had the only block solo of the match and Behrens and Janjusevic combined for the other Jaspers block.
 
For NJIT, Danica Vukotic was the kills leader with six and Emily Krachenfels collected 12 assists. Vukotic also had the only two Highlander service aces.
 
Freshman libero Adriana Nieto led the Highlanders in digs (11) and Danica Vukotic had eight digs. At the net, Tess Albyn finished with five block assists and Anneka Harris finished with four block assists.
 
Manhattan led for the entire first set and the second set was tied once at 1-1 before Manhattan went ahead to stay with a 3-0 run that put the Jaspers on top, 4-1.
 
Unlike the first two sets, the third set was a battle, with six ties and four lead changes. Manhattan got off to an 8-1 lead, but NJIT scrapped back to knot the score at 13-13. The Highlanders continued the surge to take a 15-14 lead on a combined block by Harris and Nina Vukotic.
 
The lead changed hands several times, but neither team got ahead by more than two points all the way to Manhattan's 26-24 victory.
 
The last lead for the Highlanders was 21-20, but two unforced attack errors and a kill by Manhattan's Behrens gave the Jaspers a 23-21 advantage.
 
NJIT came back and tied the score at 24 apiece on another combo block by Albyn and Tosic, but Behrens and Peric notched back-to-back kills to secure the win for the visitors.
 
The Highlanders will play their remaining for matches in the Atlantic Sun Conference, beginning with a pair at home in the coming weekend. North Florida will be the guest for Senior Night on Friday at 7 pm in the Fleisher Athletic Center. The home part of NJIT's 2015 schedule concludes on Sunday at noon against Jacksonville.