JERSEY CITY, NJ—Visiting NJIT won in straight sets, 3-0 (25-14, 25-23, 25-16), sweeping the season series from Saint Peter's Tuesday evening in non-conference women's volleyball action at the Yanitelli Center.
In the first meeting between the two teams in Newark, NJIT took a 3-1 decision from the Peacocks.
NJIT, which has won the last four-out-of-five matches improves to 8-7 overall, while the Peacocks, still winless in 2016, drops to 0-8.
Senior
Weronika Wiezik was the match-leader with 12 kills for NJIT while
Alyssa Armada, making her first start of the season, nearly missed, posting a double-double with nine kills and 12 digs, finishing the match with a .400 hitting percentage.
Junior setter
Anna Rodrigues recorded her fourth double-double of the season, with a match-best 37 assists to go along with 10 digs.
Libero
Adriana Nieto led three players with double-digit digs, with a match-high 18, followed by Armada (12) and Rodrigues (10).
Saint Peter's was led by Marlena Budna with six kills while Kaitlyn Sitton piled up a team-best 11 assists. The Peacock defense was paced by Carolina Ruiz and Kenyale McGinnis with 16 and 10 digs respectively. Budna notched six block assists in the loss.
The Highlanders got off to a quick start in the first frame, leading 6-2 after five straight points. After a point by the home team, NJIT scored three consecutive points, for a 9-3 advantage and later extended the Highlander lead to 18-7, behind seven answered points, cruising to a 25-14 lead.
NJIT scored the first three points of the second set and the home team rallied back to knot the set at 6-6. After four straight points by the Highlanders, the lead grew to four, 10-6. The Highlanders held an 18-12 lead, as the Peacocks stormed back on an 8-3 spurt, pulling within one, 20-21.
After a kill by
Anna Rodrigues, the Peacocks scored three straight, taking a 23-22 lead. The visitors responded with back-to-back kills by
Weronika Wiezik and
Tess Albyn for a 24-23 lead, resulting in a Saint Peter's timeout. Out of the timeout, NJIT's
Mikalah Hughes put down a kill, as the Highlanders were victorious, 25-23.
In the third frame, which was played close into the early teens, the Highlanders broke an 8-8 tie and rallied off four straight points for a 12-8 lead on a kill by
Alyssa Armada. The Highlanders held a five-point advantage through the mid-teens, 20-15 and scored the final five points of the set to go on and win, 25-16, to clinch the match.
NJIT will open ASUN conference play on Saturday, September 24 at 2pm, when the Highlanders travel to Spartanburg, South Carolina to take on USC Upstate.
