Rowan volleyball punched their ticket to the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) semifinals after defeating Kean on the road in the quarterfinals on Nov. 12 by a score of 3-1 (21-25, 25-21, 25-16, 25-15).

Despite dropping the first set to the No. 4 seeded Cougars, the No. 5 seeded Profs were able to win the next three to secure their berth to the semifinals after falling short in the 2023 season with a quarterfinals loss to William Paterson.

The win came against a Kean volleyball program that had, up until their matchup against Rowan, made it past the first round of the NJAC tournament every year since 2012.

“Last year we lost in our quarterfinal match, so we didn’t want that to happen again,” Head Coach Deana Jespersen said. “Anytime that you are first to do something, it’s something that the team would feel good about.”

The Profs were able to improve upon their performance in their regular season matchup against Kean which resulted in a loss after five sets as the Cougars came back from a 0-2 hole, including laying down more aces and passing more effectively.

Rowan finished with nine kills while holding Kean to only two. During their regular season meeting on Oct. 22, the Profs gave up 17 kills to the Cougars while only contributing eight of their own.

“We passed so well last night and that was the biggest factor. We talked about if we could win the serve and pass game, we would be in a good spot. And we did,” Jespersen said. “We served really aggressively, and we passed money. So I think those things certainly helped us get the win.”

Brooke Adams finished the night with 11 digs and 49 of the team’s 54 total assists for a double-double. 

“When we played them the first time, they aced us 17 times, which is kind of crazy. So we knew that was something we needed to work on,” Adams said. “The second time they only aced us twice, so kudos to our passers. We really got stuff done.”

Jespersen says the key to giving the offense their spark is to get the passing game going, allowing Adams to do what she does best.

“If you can pass well then Brooke can run her offense and we had all of our hitters swinging, so it was great,” Jespersen said.

The next final obstacle for the Profs on their road to the NJAC championship match comes against top-ranked William Paterson, the team that knocked them out of the 2023 tournament in the first round. The team will travel to Wayne, New Jersey for an NJAC tournament match for the second year in a row.

In their regular season matchup, Rowan swept the Bears in a tense battle at Esbjornson Gymnasium. 

Despite beating them once already this season, Adams says doing that again will be no easy feat, but she’s confident her team can go into William Paterson and leave with a win.

“We know that we swept them this year, but it’s hard to beat a good team twice. It’s not a given Thursday and we need to work hard to beat them, but we definitely have the power in ourselves to do it,” Adams said. “We just need to go out there and play like we did against Kean and we need to get our revenge in their gym, because they came here and we beat them, but last year we lost twice in their gym. So, just beating them in their own gym will be nice.”