Nov. 12, 2006

Final Stats

Fairfield, CT - Freshman Kristy Haeckel had 14 kills and 12 digs and freshman Kasha Hornstein added 12 kills as NJIT beat Sacred Heart, 3-0, in women's volleyball action on senior day at the Pitt Center Sunday. The Highlanders took the three games by margins of 30-26, 30-22 and 30-28.

Freshmen Annie Archer (Littleton, CO) and Alex Bavasi (Flagstaff, AZ) led the way for the Pioneers offensively, with eight and nine kills, respectively. Meanwhile, libero Katie Thomas (Wappingers Falls, NY) rang up a game high 24 digs from the back row and sophomore Aurora Appel had 15 digs of her own.

The Pioneers got off to a fast start in the first game, jumping out to leads of 4-0 and 7-1 early on. However, the Highlanders worked their way back, cutting the deficit to 14-12 before SHU called a timeout. After the break, the teams exchanged points and the Pioneers held a 17-15 lead. NJIT then ran off five straight points to open up a 20-17 lead. The Pioneers couldn't recover from that and the Highlanders used a kill by Haeckel to close out a 30-26 victory.

NJIT controlled the second game from the outset, jumping out to a 6-1 lead. The Pioneers rallied to cut it to 8-7, but the Highlanders went on to win 14 of the next 21 points to open up a 22-14 lead. From there, the Highlanders hung on to win the game 30-22, closing it out with a kill by sophomore Danielle Thompson.

The third game was a back-and-forth affair, as the team's exchanged the first six points. NJIT opener up a 7-3 lead before the Pioneers battled back to tie it, 9-9. After battling even for a stretch, the Pioneers were finally able to opened up a 22-18 lead. However, the Highlanders scored the next four points to tie the game at 22. With the teams knotted at 28, the Highlanders scored the last two points to complete a 30-28 game and the 3-0 victory.

The Pioneers close out the season 3-23, while NJT finishes the year 10-21.