BALANCED EFFORT SENDS MSU INTO NJAC
VOLLEYBALL SEMIFINALS

Montclair, NJ (10/30/07) – Freshman outside hitter Devon Johnston (Moorestown, NJ/Moorestown) collected 13 kills and 13 digs while sophomores Kara Burnham (Moorestown, NJ / Moorestown) and Anna Chesnakova (East Brunswick, NJ / East Brunswick) each added 12 kills as third-seeded Montclair State swept No. 6 seed William Paterson, 3-0 in the opening round of the New Jersey Athletic Conference Volleyball Tournament on Tuesday evening.  MSU won by game scores of 30-27, 30-15 and 30-25.

Sophomore Karen Martin (Sicklerville, NJ / Washington Township) added seven kills and 13 digs for the Red Hawks, who now advance to the NJAC Tournament semifinals on Thursday, November 1 at second-seeded Richard Stockton in Pomona at 7:00 pm. Montclair also improved to 20-14 with the win, the first time MSU has reached 20 wins since 1997 and just the third time in program history. The contest was also Montclair’s first NJAC Tournament home match since 2000.

Sophomore middle hitter Kelly Helfrich (Clark, NJ/ Arthur L. Johnson) had 10 kills, eight digs and four blocks for William Paterson which fell to 21-12. It was the second time this season that the Pioneers fell to Montclair as MSU picked up a 3-1 victory in Wayne, NJ on October 2.

William Paterson scored six of the first seven points in the opening game and led 13-3 as Montclair committed a setting error. The Red Hawks then chipped away at the lead getting within 18-14 on a kill by Burnham. Tamara Miller (Maplewood, NJ / Columbia) pushed the lead back to 19-14 with a kill for WPU and the Pioneers maintained the advantage whenl Helfrich put down her fourth kill to make the score 26-22. But Montclair State ran off the next four points to tie the game at 26-26 as Chesnakova and Christine Toskovich (Garfield, NJ / Garfield) combined on a block. Samantha Reed (Dumont, NJ/Dumont) put WPU up one more time with a kill, but Chesnakova countered a kill to deadlock the game again. The Pioneers would commit back-to-back attack errors to give Montclair its first lead of the game and the Red Hawks grabbed the 1-0 match lead as Chesnakova recorded her sixth kill of the opening contest.

The second game would be a reversal from the first as Montclair State moved out to an 11-4 advantage on a kill by Martin. William Paterson would trim the lead back to 11-7 as Helfrich served up an ace, however Montclair would widen its lead to 19-11 as Meghan Stevens (Wodcliffe Lake, NJ / Pascack Hills) added an ace of her own. Burnham and Chesnakova would each add two kills as Montclair State led 28-15. After a WPU attack error, Silva closed out the game with an ace as the Red Hawks went up two games.

In the third game, Burnham had three kills, including one to give MSU a 6-2 lead. From there the team battled within four points until Toskovich put down a kill to give Montclair State a 24-19 lead. Helfrich would answer with two kills to close the gap to 24-22, but Martin, Burnham and Johnston each registered a kill as the lead was restored to 26-22. Johnston’s six kill of the game brought the Red Hawks to match point, however Dana Hansen (Fair Lawn, NJ / Fair Lawn) kept the Pioneers alive with her fourth kill of the match. A Montclair attack error made the score 29-25, but Chesnakova closed out the match with her 12^th and final kill.

Setter Raisa Silva (Newark, NJ / East Side) finished with 47 assists for Montclair State, which hit .223 in the match. Stevens had a match-best 25 digs while Martin contributed 13 and Jina Marsano (Caldwell, NJ / Caldwell) 10. Chesnakova finished with four total blocks.

Miller had seven kills and a team-high 16 digs for William Paterson, which got 13 digs from Reed and 11 assists from Hansen. Jillian Bronowich (Secaucus, NJ/Secaucus) added eight assists and seven digs while libero Amanda Mitchell (Secaucus, NJ / Secaucus) posted seven digs.