Big hitters; NYU-Poly sweeps competition

Dominates York College (NY) and upends William Patterson


Wayne, NJ -  If Saturday's matches were any indicator of what "mid-season form" looks like, then the NYU-Poly women's volleyball team would be an excellent example. The Lady Blue Jays jumped all over York College in their first match, cruising to a 3-0 victory (25-2, 25-9, 25-4) and then defeated a William Patterson squad that had NYU-Poly's number then last two years, 3-1 (25-22, 25-13, 19-25, 25-18).

The Blue Jays made very quick work of an undermatched York squad. NYU-Poly hit a staggering 19 aces in the match. Junior Meredith Shipman (Sugarland, TX / Elkins HS) and sophomore Victoria Kalvert (Missouri City, TX / Elkins HS) each recorded 11 kills and both hit a mind-numbing 0.785. The team had a total of 57 attempts and made just one hitting error. Defensively, senior Jackie Johnson (Houston, TX / Mirabeau B. Lamar HS) led the way with eight digs, while sophomore Melissa Pona (Staten Island, NY / Staten Island Tech) was right behind her with seven.

Against William Patterson, it was a more balanced attack with players providing some big plays in key moments. After the Pioneers won the third set, the Blue Jays needed to regroup — and they did in teamwork-like fashion.  Shipman and freshmen Corey Loupee (Crown Point, IN / Boone Grove HS) each provided some big kills down the stretch with Loupee notching six in the final game. Freshmen Nicole Breitbart (Ridgewood, NJ / Ridgewood HS) was pivotal in setting up those kills, as she recorded 39 assists in the match.

NYU-Poly tallied 10 more service aces in the match with Marissa Mauerhan (Glendale, CA / Hoover HS) and Loupee each recording three. On the defensive side, Johnson was near-perfect, racking up 23 digs on the night while Kalvert notched three solo blocks and three more block assists.

NYU-Poly (6-4) opens up conference play on Tuesday, in its home-opener, against Old Westbury at 7:00 pm.