Galloway, NJ – Stockton University (21-11) saw a late rally fall short and fell to Ramapo College (25-1) by a 3-2 score in the championship match of the NJAC Tournament. The scores were 15-25, 25-2, 25-23, 22-25 and 15-13 in five thrilling sets.
Stockton rolled through the first set 25-15. With the score tied at 3-3, the Ospreys scored five of the next six points to take the lead that they would maintain through the rest of the set.
Freshman
Rileigh Wilson (Milton, Del./Cape Henlopen) had three kills, with
Jaylah Rolle (Williamstown/Williamstown adding a kill and a pair of aces and
Teleyah Witherspoon (Hackensack/Hackensack) blocking two attacks.
The Roadrunners took the next two sets before the Ospreys rebounded to capture the fourth frame 25-22 and force a fifth set. Ramapo led 7-3 in the fourth stanza but Stockton responded with four straight points to knot the set. Two aces by
Ashley Carkhuff (Hackettstown/Hackettstown) and a
Kate Louer (Clifton/Clifton) kill made it 7-7.
Stockton was able to put the set away late with two errors by the Roadrunners and a kill by NJAC Player of the Year
Nicole Palmer (East Islip, NY/East Islip) for the 25-22 win.
Ramapo sprinted out to a 14-7 lead in the final set before Stockton made one last push. Three errors by the visitors, two spikes by Palmer and an ace by
Lauren Sommer (York, Pa./Central York) allowed the Ospreys to fight off six match points and pull within 14-13, but the visitors recorded the decisive point in the 15-13 win and capture the match 3-2.
Louer and Palmer led the Ospreys with 13 kills each.
Aubrey Rentzel (York, Pa./Central York) and
Regan Mendick (Newark, Del./Red Lion Christian) dished 22 and 18 assists respectively, with Rentzel chipping in with two aces and eight digs.
McKenna Ritchie (Newark, Del./Newark Charter School) led the back row with a team-high 11 digs and added six assists.
Rolle led the front line with six blocks, with Witherspoon contributing five blocks on the day. Carkhuff filled the stat sheet with eight kills, seven digs and a match-high three aces.
Maliyah LaBrie led four Roadrunners with 18 kills. Desiree Cruz had 13 spikes, with teammates Karolina Rodriguez and Penelope Rivera adding 11 and 10 kills respectively. Krystal Santiago led all players with 19 digs and Cleopatra Diakou dished 44 assists and scooped 12 digs. Kalme Moncavo chipped in with 14 digs.
Stockton entered the match ranked second in NCAA Region IV and will await the announcement of the NCAA Tournament field on Monday at 1:00 pm on NCAA.com.
