QU Volleyball Wins Fourth Straight, Sweeps NJIT

Friday, September 2

Brooklyn Heights, NY

6:30 PM

Quinnipiac University

5-1

New Jersey Institute of Technology

2-3

NJIT

QUI

9/2/2016 8:34:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, N.Y. - The Quinnipiac volleyball team won its fourth match in a row by sweeping NJIT 25-21, 25-22, 25-20 on Friday evening on the first day of the Terrier/Rose Hill Classic at Saint Francis College in Brooklyn.

With the win, the Bobcats improve to 5-1, including two wins in its current four-match win streak against NJIT, which it defeated 3-1 last week at the La Salle Invitational in Philadelphia. The Highlanders fall to 2-3 with the loss, with two of the defeats coming at the hands of the Bobcats.

Sophomore outside hitter Jen Coffey (Merrimack, N.H. - pictured) led Quinnipiac with 12 kills and no errors, while junior middle hitter Elizabeth Kloos (Munster, Ind.) had 10 kills in only 16 attempts (with one error) for a .562 hitting percentage. Freshman outside hitter Natalie Alechko (Old Tappan, N.J.) also had 10 kills for the Bobcats, who hit an impressive .360 as a team, committing a paltry seven attack errors in the entire match. Freshman setter Maria Pansari (Whitehouse Station, N.J.) had 29 assists while sophomore outside hitter Kat Miller (Collegeville, Pa.) led the defense with 10 digs.

The five wins this season already match Quinnipiac's total from the last two seasons combined, and leave the Bobcats just one win shy of matching its highest win total since the 2002 team finished 10-15. The four-match win streak is one shy of the school's record as a full NCAA Division I member, set in 2000.

The first set saw NJIT take a 13-10 lead before the Bobcats responded with a 5-0 run, with Pansari contributing an ace during the run. Freshman libero Alejandra Rodriguez (Toa Alta, P.R.) added another ace to make the score 19-15, and Coffey capped off the set with a kill for a 25-21 win and a 1-0 advantage in the match.

The Bobcats used another 5-0 run to take control of the second set early, turning a 9-6 advantage into a 14-6 lead, as Kloos and Alechko each had kills during the run. NJIT, though, stormed right back into it and pulled even at 16-16 with a 10-2 run and then surged ahead 22-20. The Bobcats dug down, though, starting a set-ending 5-0 run with an Alechko kill. A Coffey kill then gave the Bobcats a 23-22 lead, and after an NJIT error, Coffey had another kill for her second set-winning point of the match to give Quinnipiac a 2-0 lead.

Rodriguez had back-to-back service aces in the third set to give Quinnipiac a 17-11 lead. NJIT clawed back to within 20-17, but the Bobcats had three straight kills, from Miller, senior middle hitter Allison Leigh (Palmer, Alaska) and Coffey to take control at 23-17. Quinnipiac was then the beneficiary of a pair of NJIT service errors for the final two points as it capped off the 3-0 win with a 25-20 third set victory.

Quinnipiac will try to tie the school record at the Division I level for the longest win streak when it meets Saint Francis tomorrow morning for an 11:30 a.m. contest. The Bobcats will then hop on the bus and cross the bridge to the Bronx to face tournament co-host Fordham at 4:30 p.m.