Dukes Battle to Five-Set Win Over Rutgers

Saturday, September 20

Piscataway, N.J.

12:30 p.m.

James Madison University

8-5

Rutgers

6-6

James Madison

Rutgers

9/20/2014 4:13:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Sophomore Janey Goodman (Powhatan, Va./Powhatan) knocked down 21 kills to lead the James Madison volleyball team to a hard-fought 3-2 (25-11, 25-11, 20-25, 19-25, 15-12) victory over Rutgers on Saturday afternoon to finish off a perfect weekend at the Rutgers Invitational.

The Dukes, who knocked off Princeton and Rutgers on Friday to round out a 3-0 weekend, moved to 8-5 on the season with Saturday's victory.

"We got better this weekend," Head Coach Lauren Steinbrecher said. "I'm proud of the team effort that put us in position to win three matches. The mental toughness it took to come back and win that fifth set today was huge. We're ready and excited to get to work and get ready for conference play this coming weekend."

Junior Meghan Niski (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles East) and senior Lizzy Briones (Siloam Springs, Ark./Siloam Springs) joined Goodman in double-digit kills with 13 and 10, respectively, while junior setter Sarah Patterson (Roanoke, Va./Hidden Valley) passed out a season-high 55 assists.

JMU ran away with each of the first two set, taking 25-11 wins in both and peaking with a .414 hitting percentage (14-2-29) in the second set.

After the break, Rutgers battled back, storming out to 3-0 and 7-1 leads in the third set on its way to a 25-20 win. The fourth set was much more evenly-matched, as the teams traded short runs until the Scarlett Knights used a 5-0 run to take an 18-12 advantage and close the set out, 25-19.

The fifth set was hotly-contested throughout. The Dukes took a 7-4 lead with a 3-0 run highlighted by a Niski kill, and held off Rutgers, who cut the lead to 13-12 at one point. Niski and Patterson both put down a kill to close things out at 15-12 and clinch the match for JMU.

The Dukes were against stellar on defense for the day, as junior MacKenzie Kleespies (Lincoln University, Pa./Avon Grove) racked up 29 digs, while senior Martha Stewart (Naperville, Ill./Waubonsie Valley) and freshman Hailey Brooks (Mechanicsville, Va./Atlee) picked up 14 and 11, respectively. For their efforts on the weekend, Kleespies and Goodman were both named to the Rutgers Invitational All-Tournament Team.

The Dukes will be back in action on Friday, Sept. 26, when they kick off play in the Colonial Athletic Association with a 7 p.m. match at William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.