Box Score
NEWARK, NJ – The NJIT women’s volleyball team won the deciding set 15-11, and came away with a 3-2 win over Utah Valley in a Great West Conference match-up Saturday afternoon at the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
All three of the sets won by the Highlanders were close, as NJIT prevailed, 25-18, 25-20, 22-25, 18-25, and 15-11.
In the deciding set, Utah Valley struck first taking a 5-3 lead. Junior Baaba Hughes broke the 6-6 tie on a kill as the Highlanders went on a 9-1 run pulling ahead 13-7 and never looked back. The final point of the set was a kill by Hughes.
Saturday’s victory was NJIT's 13th overall season and its fourth Great West Conference win. With the win over Utah Valley, the Highlanders (13-5, 4-0 GWC) move into first place. The Highlanders, who are in their fourth season of Division I competition, have nine more regular season matches scheduled, plus the Great West Conference women’s volleyball tournament hosted by Houston Baptist on November 20 and 21.
The Highlanders had three players reach double-figures in kills -- Hughes (17), Katrina Hornstein and Renata Pandolfo (13). Utah Valley’s Kayli Broadbent, who ranks in the top 100 nationally in kills per set finished with a match-high 23 kills. Senior Camie Manwill posted 17 kills for the Wolverines.
Wolverine setter Chelsea Fa’alogo led the way posting a career-high 53 assists surpassing her old mark of 49 against Utah State on August 29, 2009 and her NJIT counterpart, Erica Schultz finished with 38 assists.
Sabrina Baby registers match-high 36 digs
NJIT posted eight service aces led by Pandolfo who fired in three aces and also recorded 17 digs. Utah Valley also had eight services aces as a team led by Kathleen Stevens with four.
Defensively, senior libero Sabrina Baby, who in matches played through October 4, leads the nation in digs per set registered a match-high 36 digs for NJIT leading four players with double-figure dig totals – Pandolfo (21), Hughes (12), Schultz (11) and Hornstein (10).
The Highlanders had a slight team blocking advantage (7-to-5) and freshman Fernanda Lima was the individual leader with five block assists and one solo. Lima finished with four kills on nine attempts for a .444 hitting percentage.
Utah Valley (12-6, 4-1GWC) had five players reach double-figures in the digs category led by libero Allyce Jones with 35 followed by Broadbent (23), Manwill (21), Stevens (14), Fa’alogo (10).
NJIT will return to action on Wednesday, October 14 when they travel to Easton, PA to face Lafayette at 7pm.