Post-Match Interview w/ Head Coach Pedro Trevino
Post-Match Interview w/ Sophomore Setter Kyla Lannert
Photo Gallery

NEWARK, NJ - The NJIT women's volleyball team won its season-opener for the first time since 2016, defeating Saint Peter's in straight sets on Tuesday evening at the Wellness and Events Center.

"I told the team all week that we needed to pass well and serve tough, and I thought we did well in both of those areas tonight," explained third-year Head Coach Pedro Trevino.

Sophomore setter Kyla Lannert played a big role in the passing success, dishing out 27 assists, while stuffing the stat sheet with seven digs, three blocks, and three kills. Lannert also had four of the team's nine aces on Tuesday.

The Highlanders (1-0) won a tight opening set 25-23, before winning the second and third more comfortably by scores of 25-21 and 25-20, respectively. 

A pair of freshmen, Cami Augustine and Ines Varela, made their debuts for the Highlanders and didn't disappoint as Augustine finished with a team-high nine kills, while Varela had five kills of her own to go along with a team-high four blocks (one solo). Augustine closed out the match with a kill in the third set.

"Cami was calm out there," explained Trevino. "When she got a set, she just went up and swung away. She never gave up and got into a nice rhythm out there.

Junior Courtney Branch also had a successful season-opener four NJIT, tallying eight kills (.368 attack percentage) and three block assists.

Tuesday's match was the Highlanders' first in front of a crowd since the fall of 2019 and the crowd of 555 helped lead NJIT to the program's first straight-set win in almost three years. 

"It was exciting to finally play in front of a crowd, especially such a large one tonight," said Lannert. "We definitely fed off of that energy."

NJIT returns to the court this weekend for three matches at the Delaware Invitational in Newark, DE. The two-day event is being hosted by the University of Delaware and the Highlanders will open up play against the host Blue Hens at 12pm on Friday, before taking on Maryland-Eastern Shore (11am) and Fordham (2pm) on Saturday.