Newark, N.J. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Volleyball team overcame a two set deficit on Tuesday to earn a 14-25, 19-25, 25-20, 25-17, 16-14 non-conference victory at Rutgers-Newark. The win was the 200^th in Mike Strano's tenure with the Knights.
 
After falling behind 2-0 on Tuesday, Mount Saint Mary rebounded in the third set with 10 kills to cut its deficit in the match in half. Junior Rachel Sabatini (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) put away five kills in the third frame, while Jennifer Gries (Hicksville, N.Y.) and Kristen Maddock (Medford, N.Y.) each posted a pair of service aces.
 
The Knights pulled even in the match at 2-2 in the fourth set after recording just four attack errors. Sabatini and Kayla Kurka (Islip, N.Y.) combined for six of the team's 10 kills in the frame and Maddock added three more aces to bring the Mount even in the contest.
 
The Mount took the match from Rutgers-Newark in the fifth stanza after posting 13 kills. Sabatini and Kurka each added four kills and junior Elizabeth Lavin (Hicksville, N.Y.) hit an efficient .600 in five attempts to lead the Knights. With the score tied 14-14 in the fifth, Kurka and Lavin delivered back-to-back winners to close out the road win.
 
After committing 22 attack errors over the first two sets on Tuesday, the Knights recorded 19 miscues over the final three frames to secure the victory. Mount Saint Mary was also held without a service ace over the first two stanzas, but rebound to finish the match with seven.
 
Sabatini led Mount Saint Mary with a match-high 17 kills and added 14 digs to close out her third double-double of the season. Kurka recorded 16 winners in the match for the Knights, committing just two attack errors on her way to hitting .359 for the night. She added four digs and a team-high six block assists.
 
Angelia Cirigliano (Newburgh, N.Y.) posted seven kills in the match, with Lavin contributing six kills and hitting .333 in the victory.
 
Maddock finished off a strong match with 27 assists on Tuesday to go along with 12 digs and five service aces. Kimberly Gries (Hicksville, N.Y.) also added a double-double with 15 assists and 10 digs. Kaitlin O'Brien (Staten Island, N.Y.) lifted 17 digs, while Jennifer Gries (Hicksville, N.Y.) led the Knights with 29 digs.
 
Rutgers-Newark was led by 11 kills from Cassie Luken and received a match-high 30 assists from Nathalie Breining. Sue Riley led all players in the match with 32 digs for the Scarlet Raiders.
 
For the match, Mount Saint Mary held the advantage in kills 52-35, while Rutgers-Newark finished with the edge in aces 10-7 and total team blocks 16-7.5.
 
Tuesday's win improves Mount Saint Mary to 10-17 overall on the season. The Knights will return home on Saturday for a Skyline Conference tri-match at the Kaplan Center. The Mount will square off with Old Westbury at 11:00 a.m. and then with Mount Saint Vincent at 3:00 p.m.

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