MAHWAH, N.J. — The St. Joseph's University, New York (Brooklyn) women's volleyball team opened its Saturday tri-match with a 3–2 victory over Penn State University-Shenango (25–19, 25–10, 22–25, 17–25, 15–7) for its first win of the season. The Bears wrapped up the day with a 0–3 sweep loss (15–25, 21–25, 12–25) to host Ramapo College.
Penn State-Shenango
In a first set fueled by scoring runs, the Bears closed the frame on a 9-2 spurt after trailing 17-16 to secure a 25-19 opening-set win. Karson Brooks (Portland, Ore.) tallied three aces during the run, while Keren Crespo (Meriden, Conn.) added a pair of kills.
Trailing 7-6 early in the second, the Bears took control behind a combination of Nittany Lion attack errors and an offensive spark from Carissa Zwiefelhofer (North Bend, Wash.). SJBK claimed 19 of the final 22 points, cruising to a 25-10 victory and taking a two-set lead in the match.
Shenango flipped the script in the third, building a 13-3 lead before holding off a Bears rally to take the set. In the fourth, SJBK turned a 9-7 deficit into a 12-9 advantage, but the Nittany Lions responded with a seven-point run en route to a 25-17 win.
St. Joseph's broke a 4-4 tie with consecutive points and never trailed again. Brooks tallied three kills down the stretch before Zwiefelhofer helped close out the 15-7 set win with a kill and two aces.
Zwiefelhofer recorded her seventh career triple-double and first of the season, finishing with 10 kills, 23 assists and 10 digs while hitting .450 and adding three aces. Crespo also tallied 10 kills, while Brooks added eight kills, 10 digs and four aces. Juliette DiVittorio (Astoria, N.Y.) led the Bears with 14 digs.
Ramapo
The Bears remained within striking distance in the opening set, trailing 12-11 before a 9-2 Ramapo run helped the Roadrunners pull away for a 25-15 win. St. Joseph's responded in the second, building a 6-2 lead and later holding a 20-19 edge, but the hosts closed on a 6-1 run to take the frame, 25-21.
The Bears scored the first three points of the third behind back-to-back Zwiefelhofer aces, but an 11-1 Roadrunner surge turned the set around as Ramapo completed the sweep, 25-12.
Brooks led the side with five kills while Crespo topped the team with six digs. Zwiefelhofer distributed 10 assists and served four aces in the losing effort.
The Bears are back in New Jersey on Thursday, September 10 at 7 pm against FDU-Florham.
