Double-Doubles Not Enough as Lady Bears Volleyball Falls to NJCU

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Despite a pair of double-double efforts from freshman Lauren GaNun (Breezy Point, NY/Fontbonne Hall) and senior Kim Matthews (Breezy Point, NY/Bishop Kearney), the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's volleyball team dropped a 3-1 non-conference road decision (25-14, 23-25, 25-22, 25-19) to New Jersey City University on Monday evening at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center.

St. Joseph's drops to 6-2 overall while NJCU improves to 4-8 snapping an eight-match losing streak.

GaNun put down a match- and career-high 17 kills against only three errors for an efficient .326 hitting percentage. GaNun also had a block and 10 digs for her first career double-double.  Filling in at setter, Matthews recorded her third straight double-double handing out 19 assists and brought up a team-high 17 digs to lead the defense. Matthews also served four aces and had three kills.

Four Lady Bears finished with double-digit digs, Nicole Rios (Astoria, NY/Mary Louis) with 14 and Anna Carbone (Ozone Park, NY/Mary Louis) adding 13.

NJCU was led offensively Marissa Scarpa who finished with a 10 kill, 14 dig double-double also serving up a match-high six aces.  Jade Medley tallied a team-high 11 kills. Kiara Martinez controlled the offense with 30 assists.

Scarpa served five straight aces to power the Gothic Knights to a 7-1 run opening a 20-12 lead en route to an opening set victory.

In the second stanza, NJCU led by as many as five points and was two points away a two-set advantage, 23-20, before the Lady Bears rallied to win five points in a row, capped by a kill from Rios to steal the set from the Gothic Knights, 25-23.

NJCU returned the favor to St. Joseph's in the third set, after the Lady Bears built a five-point lead, 18-13, the Gothic Knights fought back to equalize the set at 21-21 and captured four of the final five points to close out the set.

In the fourth and final set, both squads went back-and-forth, producing nine ties and six lead changes, before NJCU pulled away at the 18-17 mark with a 7-2 run to clinch the win.

St. Joseph's continues a busy week, playing the second of three road matches in four days.  The Lady Bears resume Hudson Valley Women's Athletic Conference playing borough rivals Medgar Evers College on Wednesday, October 3rd with first serve slated for 7 p.m.