Montclair, NJ (12/8/09) – The Montclair State men's and women's swimming and diving teams fell to Division I Seton Hall University as the Red Hawks closed out the first half of their 2009-10 schedule at the Panzer Athletic Center Pool on Tuesday evening. The MSU men fell to 2-4 as they dropped a 145-58 decision to the Pirates while the Montclair women (3-3) lost to Seton Hall 149-56.

Freshman Ashley Vallone (Park Ridge, NJ / Park Ridge) posted a pair of second place finishes in the freestyle races. Vallone recorded a time of 26.36 in the 50 free and then registered a time of 57.01 in the 100 event. She also helped the 200 medley relay team to a second-place showing as she combined with Laura Flynn (Andover, NJ / Lenape Valley), Galina Louthcouk (Richboro, PA / Council Rock) and Laura Spadoni (Nazareth, PA / Nazareth Area) fpr a time of 2:01.97.

Kelly Abner (Glenwood, NJ / Vernon) would finish second in the 100 butterfly (1:05.26) as she clocked in seventh-tenths of a second ahead of Spadoni (1:05.98). Abner then swam the final leg of the 200 freestyle relay team that placed second with a time of 1:48.97. Alice Sroga (Mahwah, NJ / Mahwah), Allie Golden (Denville, NJ / Morris Knolls) and Christina Crossin (Milford, CT / Lauralton Hall) comprised the remainder of that quartet.

For the Montclair State men, junior Blaise Lacca (Sewell, NJ / Washington Township) placed second i nthe 50 freestyle (23.06) and also swam the anchor leg for the 200 medley and freestyle relay teams that also finished second. Lacca teamed with Sean Chambrovich (Allenhurst, NJ / Red Bank Regional), Chris Lee (Morris Plains, NJ / Parsippany Hills), and Nikolas Lumkong (Andover, NJ / Pope John XXIII) for a time of 1:44.56 in the medley relay and joined Jason Jennings (Cedar Run, NJ / Southern Regional), Zak Westerberg (Hamilton, NJ / Hamilton North) and Michael Smith (Cherry Hill, NJ / Cherry Hill East) for a time of 1:32.34 in the freestyle relay.

Chambrovich also added a third-place finish in the 200 individual medley (2:10.01) while Sean French (Cranford, NJ / Cranford) was third in the 100 butterfly (57.04).

Montclair State will be out of competitive action until Tuesday, January 19 when they host Misericordia University at the Panzer Athletic Center Pool beginning at 6:00 pm. MSU will take its annual training trip to Puerto Rico at the end of the December.