BRONX, N.Y. — The St. Joseph's University, New York (Brooklyn) women's volleyball team improved to 9-7 overall while collecting its fourth Skyline Conference win of the season with a 3–1 decision (21–25, 32–30, 25–17, 25–11) over SUNY Maritime College on Thursday night at Riesenberg Gymnasium in Throggs Neck.
The Privateers edged the Bears in the opening set, pulling away late after eight ties. St. Joseph's trailed 23-21 before the Privateers closed the frame behind kills from Addison Weist.
The second set proved pivotal, featuring a plethora of ties and lead changes. SJBK fought off multiple set points, with kills from Taylor Knight (San Ramon, Calif.) and Carissa Zwiefelhofer (North Bend, Wash.) helping extend the frame. A service ace by Juliette DiVittorio (Astoria, N.Y.) gave the Bears their fifth set point, and an attack error from Maritime ended it at 32–30 — the longest set of the Bears' season and longest since the second set against Mount Saint Vincent in 2023 (29-31).
Carrying that momentum, the Bears hit .265 in the third and turned an 11-8 deficit into a 17-15 advantage. After the hosts closed the gap to one, Keren Crespo (Meriden, Conn.) and DiVittorio had a string of service aces to move ahead two sets to one with a 25-17 win. Crespo and Knight combined for six kills in the stanza.
St. Joseph's dominated the fourth set, opening on a 9–2 surge highlighted by multiple kills from Knight and Zwiefelhofer. The Bears hit .286 while limiting the Privateers to .026, closing the match on a 7–2 run punctuated by aces and a kill from Abigail Encinia (Sunnyvale, Texas) for the 25–11 victory.
Knight led all players with 20 kills, edging Weist, while hitting .475 and adding 15 digs. Zwiefelhofer totaled 11 kills, 11 assists, and 11 digs for her third triple-double of the season. Encinia notched eight kills, 14 assists, and 14 digs, while Crespo contributed eight kills, 17 digs, and four aces. Crespo and Jillian McGinty (Glendale, N.Y.) each had a match-leading three blocks. DiVittorio posted 20 digs and four aces, and setter Rachel Meltsin (Brooklyn, N.Y.) handed out 10 assists.
The Bears end a three-match road trip at Mount Saint Mary College on Saturday, October 25 at 12 pm.
