NEWARK, N.J. – The University of Pennsylvania volleyball team served up a 3-1 win over NJIT Tuesday night, winning the first two sets and then getting the last six points of the match after the Highlanders had come back to win the third and get within two points a few times midway through the fourth.
Set scores were 25-18, 25-19, 22-25, 25-15.
Penn improves to 5-3 with the win—already surpassing its win total for all of last season—while NJIT falls to 4-9.
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn had a season-high 67 digs on Tuesday night, reached double figures in blocks for the third time this season (11.0), had eight service aces—behind only the nine the Quakers had in a five-set win over Siena—and put down 57 kills which is its third-best total in a match this season.
*Two Penn players finished the night with a double-double, as sophomore
Bella Rittenberg led all players with 13 kills and added a season-high 11 digs while freshman
Ellie Siskin posted a season best in kills (11) and had 10 digs, two block assists and two service aces.
*Sophomore
Zada Sanger had nine kills, freshman
Adell Murray added eight to go with five block assists, and freshman
Jenna Garner came off the bench with seven kills (hitting .636), nine digs and two service aces.
*Freshman
Jenniya Lane saw her first collegiate action—getting the start in the middle, actually—and ended the night with five kills (.300 hitting percentage), two digs, two block solos and three block assists.
*Freshman setter
Emery Moore ended the night with 44 assists and eight digs, came up with four kills (.300 hitting percentage), and put back four block assists.
*Sophomore
Lauren Van Wie joined Garner with nine digs while senior
Kat Alexander had seven and junior
Abigail Reid had six.
How It Happened
The first set was an evenly played affair early on, the teams tying eight different times up to 10-10. At that point, Sanger put down a kill that was the start of a 5-1 Penn run and the Quakers never looked back. The lead swelled to six, at 19-13, and hit seven at 21-14 and stayed at that same margin to the end. Rittenberg and Murray had three kills each, the freshman hitting a perfect 1.000, while Lane immediately established herself with two kills (on two attacks) and three block assists.
Penn never trailed in the second set, scoring the first two points and forcing NJIT to chase them the rest of the way. The Highlanders hung around, using a three-point run to halve a six-point deficit to 14-11, and got within two points twice after that. However, at 17-15 Penn used a 4-1 run to get some separation on the way to the 25-19 win. Sanger was massive in the set, with six kills on nine attacks (.667), while Rittenberg had five kills and three digs.
NJIT staved off elimination by winning the third set. The Highlanders' key run came midway through the set, as they scored seven straight points to turn a 10-8 lead into a nine-point margin. The Quakers responded with five straight points, forcing an NJIT timeout, and the hosts settled down as they scored the first two points out of the stoppage. Penn made up two set points at the end, on kills by Moore and Garner, but a Mariana Cova kill sealed the 25-22 win for the Highlanders. Siskin had five kills in the set, hitting .500, while Garner hit .600 and had three kills.
Penn left nothing to chance in the third, scoring six in a row early to go in front 9-2. NJIT got back as close as two, at 12-10, and the teams traded points to 15-13 after that. However, at that point Siskin and Rittenberg sandwiched kills around a Highlanders attack error and timeout. That gave the Red and Blue a five-point lead, at 18-13, and at 19-15 junior
Anna Shohfi came in and served up the last six points of the night with the final two coming on aces to secure the match win.
Up Next
Penn will close out the non-conference portion of its season on Sunday, hosting the University of Rhode Island at The Palestra at 1 p.m.
For the latest on Penn volleyball, follow @PennVolleyball on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.
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