Riverdale, NY — Manhattan gave NJIT a long leash to work with in the first set and the Highlanders never looked back from there. Manhattan fell behind 10-3 in that opening side and couldn't settle in on their way to losing in straight sets.
-NJIT created separation in the first set with 6 straight points that put the visitors up 7 early. Ines Varela's service performance served as the facilitator for the Highlanders who rattled off 5 in a row behind the senior middle blocker. Manhattan compounded their slow start with a slew of attack errors, finishing the first set with 8 total errors. The Jaspers cut to within 3 in as many instances, but the visitors had other plans. Sophomore outside hitter Mikalah Curran led the Jaspers with 4 kills in the first set and senior outside hitter Maike Bertens added 3 more.
-After a service error from Curran put NJIT up 20-16 in the second set, Manhattan responded with three straight points which started with a kill from freshman outside hitter Fiona Van Dyke who now has 6 kills in 2 of the Jaspers last 3 matches. Then, the Highlanders took command again, recording 4 unanswered on their way to eventually clinching a 25-21 win in the second set.
-Despite only holding leads of 1-0 and 2-1 for the entire third set, Manhattan continued to fight even once things started to slip away. NJIT grew their lead to as much as 9 at 18-9, which is when the Jaspers began to chip away and were buoyed by 4 more kills from Curran to help cut the NJIT lead to 23-19. The Jaspers were officially stopped in the tracks of their comeback attempt when they committed an attack error on set point.
-Elenoa Sing was a late scratch from the line-up due to injury. She was replaced by sophomore middle blocker Abby Morreale who doled out 4 kills.
-NJIT entered the match-up with a 4-12 record with a pair of straight set losses to Syracuse, a 3-1 loss to Penn, and a 3-0 win over Le Moyne — all of whom were common opponents between the Highlanders and Jaspers. Manhattan was the fifth MAAC team to play NJIT this season.
-The Highlanders were led on the stat sheet by Mariana Cova and Ines Varela with 8 kills apiece.
