Rowan Women’s Volleyball’s hopes of their first NJAC championship appearance since 2022 came to an end on Nov. 14, as the Profs were knocked out of the 2024 New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) tournament in the semifinals against William Paterson.

The Profs were swept by the Pioneers, who went on to win the 2024 NJAC Championship over Stockton on the road 3-0 (25-22, 25-10, 25-16). This is the second year in a row that William Paterson has knocked Rowan out of the tournament, as they also did it in the quarterfinals last season.

“Their blocking was good and defensively they were solid,” Head Coach Deana Jespersen said. “After we lost that first set, I really think that it kind of took a little bit of our confidence away.”

The Profs fared worse against the Pioneers the second time around, as offensive struggles plagued their performance. The team hit just .041 (27-22-123) in the loss.

During their regular season matchup, the Profs were able to gain the narrow edge to sweep William Paterson, holding them to only 27 kills and five digs. For comparison, Rowan gave up 41 kills and eight aces in their semifinal loss.

“I definitely think it’s fair to say that offensively, we were struggling to kind of find our groove. We were making a lot of errors and Willy P was definitely putting on a lot of pressure, which was making it harder for us,” Jespersen said. “Offensively we were struggling to kind of find the court and find an area where we could lay down our kills. Willy P was doing a nice job defensively, digging on that side of the net.”

Compared to last season, the Profs were able to flip the script and improve, coming out of the 2024 season with a winning 16-14 record after finishing 9-21 in 2023. They also improved upon their conference record, finishing 5-3 against NJAC opponents and making it to the second round of the tournament, compared to a 3-5 record in 2023 that saw the Profs suffer a first-round exit.

“I think we started off the season playing in tough competition and in the beginning, I think there was a little bit of fear of are we going to be successful or not?” Jespersen said. “When they started to flip that mindset into, ‘this is not the same situation we had and that we learned from last year’ and became one step better, they started to trust one another. That shows that resilience to continue to just kind of trust each other and trust the process.”

Rowan Volleyball will now also say goodbye to one of the program’s best players in setter Brooke Adams.

“You see these people every day, so you want it to be people that you like. I’ve been blessed to have my best friends here every day,” Adams said upon reflecting on her senior season. “These are my best friends and I’m so sad I have to leave them.”

Adams, a two-time NJAC champion, finishes her career as the program’s all-time assists leader with 4,185 while adding a 2022 NJAC All-Conference Selection and NJAC All-Conference honorable mentions for the 2021, 2023, and 2024 seasons to her impressive resume.

Adams has been the centerpiece of the team and with her departure, Jespersen already knows who will step up to fill her leadership role.

“I think both Jena [Kaul] and Vanessa [Hutchinson] are going to be those people. They’ve been a part of the team since that second championship run and I think they know what it takes to get there,” Jespersen said. “They’re both super competitive and super dedicated to the team, so I’m looking forward to seeing both of them step up next year into that role.”

Four other seniors along with Adams also find themselves leaving. Looking ahead to next season, Jespersen looks forward to what 2025 will hold for both current and future players.

“We’re excited about the freshmen that we do have coming in to kind of see how they’re going to acclimate and for the rookies that were already there, they are going from being new to understanding the layout and the landscape of the NJAC and what it takes to win,” Jespersen said. “So, I’m excited to kind of see how they own that and how they set standards for this team.”

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