Dukes Down Princeton and Akron at Rutgers Invite

Friday, September 19

Piscataway, N.J.

2:30 p.m.

James Madison University

6-5

Princeton

4-4

James Madison

Princeton

9/19/2014 7:40:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Senior middle blocker Lizzy Briones (Siloam Springs, Ark./Siloam Springs) racked up 26 kills and six blocks across two matches to lead the James Madison volleyball team to a pair of victories at the Rutgers Invitational on Friday evening.

The Dukes took down Princeton, 3-2 (23-25, 25-15, 25-22, 27-29, 15-13), in a five-set thriller in the afternoon, before sweeping Akron, 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-16), in their evening match. JMU improves to 7-5 on the season with the pair of wins.

Briones tallied 20 kills on a .429 attack percentage (20-2-42) in the opening match against Princeton, leading four Dukes in double-figure kills. Sophomore Janey Goodman (Powhatan, Va./Powhatan) put down 17 kills, while senior Kelly Maguire (Long Valley, N.J./West Morris Central) and junior Meghan Niski (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles East) posted 12 and 10, respectively.

JMU was also stellar defensively, holding the Tigers to a .158 attack percentage and racking up 98 digs, led by junior MacKenzie Kleespies (Lincoln University, Pa./Avon Grove), who posted a career-high 32 digs. The match marked the first time since a Nov. 8, 2013 match against William and Mary in which JMU tallied more than 90 digs.

The first set was hard-fought throughout, with Princeton using a late 4-0 run to take the frame, 25-23. The Dukes rebounded in the second set, never allowing the Tigers to lead and closing things out with a 6-0 run to take it, 25-15.

In the third set, JMU used a 7-0 run in the middle of the frame to take the lead for good before cruising to a 25-22 win, while the fourth set saw the two squads trade leads and points throughout before Princeton finally escaped with a 29-27 win.

In the decisive set, the Dukes stormed out to a 5-1 lead and never looked back, never giving up the lead and taking a 15-13 win to seal the victory.

In the nightcap, the Dukes spread an effective attack around, hitting .370 as a team with six different players tallying more than six kills.

The first set saw JMU take a 12-9 lead with an 8-2 run before gradually extending their lead and taking the set at 25-16. The Dukes also took an early lead in the second set, rolling to an 11-4 lead before wrapping things up at 25-18.

JMU was able to close things out without much difficulty, going up 7-4 with a 5-0 run and moving on to a 25-16 win.

The Dukes will wrap up their Rutgers Invitational, as well as their non-conference schedule, on Saturday afternoon, when they face host Rutgers in a 12:30 p.m. bout