From University of Rochester Athletics

Rochester swept past Montclair State University, 3-0, and Kean University, 3-2, on Friday at the New York Regional Challenge being staged at Stevens Institute of Technology.

The Montclair Match
Rochester assembled one of its best overall efforts this season in grabbing the 3-0 victory over Montclair. The Yellowjackets won, 25-20, 25-14, 25-13. Montclair, which had eight wins in its last nine matches coming into the competition, slipped to 22-8.
 
Rochester's kill leaders were Jennie Ford and Emma Gira with nine apiece. Aimee Kohler had six kills and Anna MacDonald had five. Xiaoyi Li and Alexandra Nelligan had two kills apiece.
 
The defense was tough. MacDonald had three block solos and two block assists. Kohler had two block assists and Emma Gira had one. Ashley Hunter led with 11 digs. Ford had nine digs. Meghan Connor had six digs, and Li produced 10 digs. Hanna Gira had four service aces.
 
Rochester hit .071 in the first set with eight attack errors. The Yellowjackets settled into a rhythm after that with only four attack errors in each of the last two sets. Rochester hit .188 in set two, and .333 in set three.
 
Conversely, Montclair couldn't find its rhythm. The Red Hawks had 10 attack errors in the first set (hitting .000), seven errors in set two against six kills (-.032), and five attack errors in set three against seven kills (.105).
 
In the first set, the match was tied at 15-15. Li and Emma Gira combined for a block. Hanna Gira served an ace, then two attack errors by Montclair pushed Rochester ahead to stay at 19-15.
 
Hanna Gira served five straight points in the second set, boosting Rochester's lead to 10-5. Li served two aces in a row and assisted on a kill by MacDonald as the Yellowjackets built a 15-6 advantage. There were no lengthy scoring runs in the third set. Rochester did win six of seven points to open a 23-12 lead in the closing stages of the match.

The Kean Match:
The Yellowjackets held off a challenge by Kean University in their second match of the day before prevailing, 20-25, 25-20, 25-12, 21-25, 15-7.
 
Emma Gira and Shira Katz hit double figures in kills. Gira had 13 and Katz had 10. Jennie Ford had nine kills. Xiaoyi Li had seven kills, Aimee Kohler had six, and Annie Fredrickson had five.
 

Ford had 18 digs, Ashley Hunter had 17, and Meghan Connor had nine. Li added eight digs, four block assists, and 40 assists. Emma Gira had two block assists.
 
Trystam Carr dug four balls and recorded two aces. Hunter and Connor had three aces apiece.
 
In the first set, Kean ran off a 5-0 streak to break a 12-12 tie. The Cougars scored four of the five points on attack errors by Rochester. The Yellowjackets righted themselves in the second set. Fredrickson recorded three kills as Rochester pulled away from a 20-19 lead. Ford served an ace to end the set.
 
Rochester led for just about the entire match in the third set. Kean hit .375 in the fourth set to force the fifth set. In set four, Rochester was down, 22-15, and closed to within 24-21 on kills by four different players. Katz had the final kill to trim the margin to three before Kean won it after a timeout.
 
The Yellowjackets wasted no time in the deciding set. Nina Baek served six straight points to push Rochester ahead, 8-3. Kills by Ford and Katz ended the match.