Women's Soccer | 9/23/2015 10:06:00 AM

NEWARK, NJ—NJIT takes the next next step in its membership in the Atlantic Sun Conference when two Highlander teams host their first A-Sun contests this weekend, with women's volleyball hosting Lispcomb on Friday at 7 pm and women's soccer entertaining USC Upstate on Saturday at 1 pm.
 
NJIT became the eight full member of the Atlantic Sun Conference effective July 1 this year, with 13 Highlander teams slated to compete for A-Sun championships in the 2015-16 year (a 14th program, men's soccer, will begin Atlantic Sun championship play in 2016-17).
 
Typically intercollegiate scheduling has teams open their seasons in competitions against teams from other conferences before they begin conference action. As a result, women's volleyball will have had 13 non-conference contests before it's a-Sun matchup against Lipscomb and women's soccer has played seven out-of-conference games before it meets USC Upstate.

  

Lipscomb, from Nashville, TN, is a perennial women's volleyball power in the A-Sun, having won better than 76 percent (124-39) of its conference matches in its 12 years as a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference. The Bisons were 21-9 overall a year ago, including 13-1 in the A-Sun, which was good for the conference regular season title. They lost in the conference championship match, but still earned a spot in the 2014 NCAA Division I championship field with an at-large berth.
 
This season, Lipscomb is 6-6 (will play crosstown rival Belmont on Tuesday night), but that record is deceptive, since the Bisons have faced an extremely difficult pre-conference slate. They did, however, open their season with a 3-0 record in the Utah Classic, including a 3-1 win over host Utah, which was ranked #23 in the national preseason poll.
 
The Highlanders (4-8, with a match at Marist still to play before the weekend) will counter Lipscomb with a mostly young squad that gets key senior contributions from twin sisters Danica Vukotic and Nina Vukotic. The pair, who have been key performers since coming from Serbia to enroll at NJIT as freshmen, are among the individual statistical leaders in multiple categories.
 
Danica leads the team in kills, points, and service aces and Nina is second in kills and points and also second in the defensive category of digs.
 
Freshman Marija Tosic, also from Serbia, is third in kills and points and the assists leader is freshman Emily Krachenfels, who is from Illinois. Another key freshman is libero Adriana Nieto, who paces NJIT in digs. She is from Puerto Rico.
 
NJIT women's soccer will have had nearly two weeks of preparation when it takes on USC Upstate on Saturday afternoon in what will be Alumnae Day in addition to A-Sun opening day.
 
The Highlanders will bring a 2-5 record into the conference opener. They got off to a 2-1 start, the best for the program since 2001, when it competed in NCAA Division II. However, the young team has not been able to return to the wins column and has sustained three consecutive hard-luck 1-0 defeats in its last three games. One of the losses came on a penalty kick in overtime and another to a strong Hartford side (4-1 record after the game) came on an NJIT own goal with less than 15 minutes remaining. The most recent 1-0 defeat came on September 13 in a quality effort vs. defending Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion Rider.
 
Every goal for NJIT this season has been scored by a freshman, with Neema Liverpool's three markers topping the charts. Senior Jaclyn Ward's two assists top NJIT in that department.
 
A defense that has surrendered just 11 goals in seven games is anchored by another senior, Samantha Bersett, who has started all seven games in goal and made 36 saves, including one on a penalty kick in the 1-0 loss to Rider. Junior Karen David, who has come off the bench twice to play in goal, has allowed just one goal in more than 66 minutes of work.
 
For its part, USC Upstate, coming north from Spartanburg, SC, will be looking to right its own ship in it's A-Sun 2015 opener. The Spartans, who last played on September 19, are 1-8-1 so far, but five of their losses have come by one-goal margins. They got their win vs. The Citadel (5-0 on August 23) and their tie came against Alabama State (3-3 on August 28).