The William Paterson and Stockton women’s volleyball teams won their respective matches to advance to the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Tournament championship game.
Stockton Downs Montclair State in Five Sets
Down 2-1 after three sets, Stockton rallied to win sets four and five to top Montclair State 3-2 (25-14, 20-25, 23-25, 25-18, 16-14) in the NJAC Women’s Volleyball Tournament semifinals.
The Osprey’s were led by Kate Lauer who recorded her third double-double in a row, and fifth in her last seven matches, with 16 kills and 25 digs.
Offensively, Louer, Nicole Palmer, and Rileigh Wilson led the way for Stockton. The trio accounted for 39 of the Osprey’s 56 kills with Louer putting down 16, Palmer recording 13, and Wilson tallying 10. Meanwhile, Regan Mendick and Kristen Burton were the chief ball distributers for Stockton dishing out 22 and 21 assists respectively.
Defensively, Stockton out blocked Montclair State 18-9, with Jaylah Rolle leading the way with nine. Louer also led the Ospreys with her 25 digs against the Red Hawks.
Camryn Muuss, Bryn Bautista, and Emily Carcich led the Montclair State attack. Muuss and Bautista had 17 and 12 kills respectively, while Carcich handed out 33 assists.
Katie Rodman led the Red Hawk defense with 26 digs.
The attack percentage for neither team was very impressive with Stockton only mustering a 0.163 attack percentage compared to Montclair State’s 0.036.
William Paterson Sweeps Rowan
Rowan held a 22-20 lead late in set one, but top-seeded William Paterson closed the set on a five-point run to take the first set, and, ultimately, a 3-0 (25-22, 25-10, 25-16) sweep of the Profs in the other NJAC Tournament semifinal.
Abby Houpt had a double-double for the Pioneers as she led the William Paterson offense with 27 assists while adding 14 digs defensively.
While Houpt dished out the assists, Hope Arce-Reed and Cecilia Miller also did their part to power the Pioneer offense. Arce-Reed led the way in kills with 13 and Miller scored six aces from the service line.
Defensively, Paola Molina led the way with 19 digs while Cecilia Miller recorded six, of William Paterson’s 10, stuffs at the net.
Jena Kaul, Maya Iovacchini, and Brooke Adams led the way for the Rowan offense. Adams had 20 assists and, while no Prof reached double digit kills against the Pioneers, Kaul and Iovacchini recorded the most with nine and seven respectively.
Defensively, Vanessa Hutchinson led the way for Rowan with 15 digs.
William Paterson outhit Rowan 0.243 – 0.041 for the match.
William Patterson will host Stockton Saturday in the NJAC Women’s Volleyball Championship match at WPU’s Sports and Recreation Center at 5:30 p.m. Along with being crowned conference champions, the winner of that match will also get the NJAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
