Women’s Volleyball Earns Comeback Win vs. Rutgers-Newark

Written by Andrew Capitelli (SJC-LI Sports Information)

Patchogue, NY| The St. Joseph's College (L.I.) women's volleyball team clawed back to earn a gutsy 3-2 come-from-behind win over Rutgers-Newark inside the Danzi Center on Wednesday evening. With the win, the Golden Eagles improve to 13-13 while the Scarlet Knights fall to 10-13.

After jumping out to a 7-5 lead early in the first set, the Golden Eagles allowed the Scarlet Raiders to compile a 5-0 run to take a 10-7 lead. Later on, down 13-10, St. Joseph's grabbed two points thanks to back-to-back kills by Claire Urizzo, but Rutgers again responded, this time with a 6-0 run to go up 19-12.

After fending off a late-set push by the Golden Eagles--that featured kills from Erin Kelly, Heather Ferchland and Urizzo--Rutgers would earn the 25-22 set win and go up 1-0 in the match.

Maintaining momentum, the Scarlet Knights took a 9-0 lead early in the second frame and later grabbed the final five points to win the set 25-11.

Trailing 2-0 in the match, The Golden Eagles scored seven of the first 10 points in the third set, but saw their lead fade after allowing Rutgers to rally for a 5-0 run. At 12-12 the set was there for the taking, and behind a Courtney Bocchieri kill and two Rutgers errors the hosts regained the lead (15-12).

Another error for the Scarlet Raiders and a service ace by Courtney Wickline extended the Golden Eagles' lead to 17-12 and saw St. Joseph's off to a 25-20 third-set victory to cut the match deficit in half.

A hard-fought fourth set saw the score tied six separate times, but at 15-15 the Golden Eagles seized the opportunity to tie the match at two and rallied for six of the next eight points to pull ahead 21-17. Shortly thereafter, an AnneMarie Taggart kill clinched a 25-21 win for St. Joseph's that pushed the match to five sets.

The Golden Eagles took control of the deciding set early, establishing a 4-1 lead before extending it to 8-2. The Scarlet Raiders would inch closer, drawing the score back to 11-6, but St. Joseph's capped the come-from-behind win by scoring five of the final six points.

A strong attacking performance by the Golden Eagles yielded 54 kills, of which Ferchland recorded a game-high 13. Bocchieri and Urizzo contributed 11 of their own, with the latter adding 11 digs. Wickline's 48 assists were also a game-best, and Jenna Beekman's 35 digs were a career-high.

The Golden Eagles return to action on Saturday, October 24 when they travel to Westchester, NY to participate in a Skyline Conference tri-match. St. Joseph's will face Purchase St. at 11:00 AM and St. Joseph's College (Brkln) at 1:00 PM.