No. 7 Women’s Volleyball Suffers 3-2 Setback Against No. 2 Stevens In NCAA Division III Regionals

The seventh seeded women's volleyball team dropped a hard-fought 3-2 decision against second seeded Stevens Institute of Technology, (14-25, 25-22, 18-25, 25-22, 8-15) in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III New York Regional, hosted by NYU at the Coles Sports Center on Friday afternoon.

The two teams traded leads early in set one before Stevens Tech went on a 5-0 run, capped by a kill by sophomore Maggie Kowalska (Edison, N.J.) to give the Ducks the 15-9 lead.  Stevens then held on for the 25-14 win to take the 1-0 lead.

In the second set, Johnson & Wales jumped out to the early lead and held a 10-6 advantage on a kill by senior Emma Anderson (Meriden, Conn.).  Stevens responded, however, and took the 17-16 lead on a hitting error by the Wildcats.  The two teams then battled back-and-forth with JWU holding the 22-19 lead after a kill by junior Audrey Warren (Haverhill, Mass.).  The Wildcats put away game two after an errant attack by Stevens gave the squad the 25-22 win to knot the match at 1-1.

Set three saw Stevens take an 11-7 lead on a kill by freshman Chrissy Dickinson (Issaquah, Wash.). Johnson & Wales climbed back into the set and cut the lead to 20-16 on a block by Warren and senior Nikki Balchunas (Brockton, Mass.).  That would be as close as the Wildcats would get, however as Stevens closed out the set on a 5-2 run for the 25-18 win in the set and a 2-1 advantage in the match.

Johnson & Wales took advantage of several miscues by Stevens and held a 10-4 after back-to-back service aces by senior Catherine Bravo (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico) early in set four.  After a small rally by Stevens, Warren put down a kill to give the Wildcats the 15-9 lead.  A 7-3 run, capped by a service ace by Maggie Majcher (Rahway, N.J.) made the score 18-16 in favor of the Wildcats.  The two teams proceeded to trade points with JWU holding a 24-22 lead.  A kill by Anderson gave the Wildcats the 25-22 win and sent the match to a deciding fifth and final set.

In game five, Stevens took the early 5-1 lead and held the 8-2 advantage when the two teams switched sides midway through the set.  Once again, JWU responded with back-to-back service aces by Bravo to cut the lead to 8-5.  That would be as close as the Wildcats would get, however as Stevens took the set 15-8, en route to the 3-2 victory.

Anderson had 11 kills in the setback for Johnson & Wales while Bravo had six kills, 21 set assists and 10 digs for the Wildcats.  Warren notched nine kills, four blocks and three digs for JWU.  Kowalska had 17 kills and two blocks for Stevens while Majcher had 14 kills and 10 digs in the victory for the Ducks.

With the loss JWU wraps up the 2010 campaign with a 24-13 mark while Stevens Tech is now 33-5 for the season.  Stevens will return to action on Saturday, November 13^th when they take on Coast Guard in the regional semifinals, starting at 4:30 p.m.