SYRACUSE, NY – The NJIT women's volleyball team opened up the 2024 campaign on Friday at the Salt City Classic, dropping a pair of matches to Syracuse and Canisius. The Orange took down the Highlanders in straight sets to start the day, while NJIT showed tremendous fight in the second match of the day before falling in four sets to the Golden Griffins.

Syracuse 3, NJIT 0 (25-15, 25-14, 25-12)
Ema Torres registered a pair of kills early in set one, the latter of which pulled the Highlanders to within a point at 4-3. After a 4-0 burst by the Orange to widen their lead, NJIT picked up a couple of points thanks to unforced errors by the home side. The two sides would trade points for much of the opening set, though a pair of attack errors by Syracuse paired with a kill from Ines Varela pulled the Highlanders to within four, 17-13. The Orange would pull away, however, using a 8-2 run to close out the first set.

Set two saw Syracuse open a quick 5-1 lead, though NJIT would level things up thanks to a 4-0 run. Later in the set with the score tied at 8-8, Syracuse put together five straight points to widen its advantage to five. The Orange would do well to hold off NJIT's attack to take a set two win. Set three started strong for NJIT, as a Sara Siefert kill capped off a 3-1 start to the frame. The teams would go back-and-forth over the next several points before a 6-0 Syracuse run served as a catalyst towards pulling away with the set three win.

Canisius 3, NJIT 1 (25-17, 19-25, 25-17, 26-24)
After Canisius claimed the opening set, the Highlanders returned the favor with a strong showing in set two. NJIT opened up a 10-5 lead early in the frame before a short burst from the Golden Griffins pulled them back within two at 11-9. The two sides would trade scoring runs during the middle of the set, with NJIT eventually taking control by scoring five straight points, including four straight off kills, to take its largest lead of the set at 21-14. The Highlanders would hold off a late surge to take the set and even up the match.

The Golden Griffins controlled set three to take a 2-1 lead into the fourth stanza. NJIT would hold a pair of four-point leads early in set four, the second of which came after back-to-back aces from Finley McAndrew. Once Canisius trimmed the deficit back down to 12-10, neither team held a lead of more than two points for the remainder of the match. NJIT looked to be in good position after an Ines Varela kill put the Highlanders up, 23-21. However, Canisius came out of a timeout by scoring five of the final six points to take the victory.

Siefert led the way for NJIT with 12 kills, with Varela and West close behind with eight apiece. McAndrew had a strong showing in her second collegiate match, logging 34 assists, nine digs and a pair of aces.

Up Next
The Highlanders will shift to the campus of Le Moyne for their final two matches of the Salt City Classic on Saturday. NJIT will face Lafayette at 11 am before taking on the Dolphins at 5 pm.