Rowan women's volleyball huddles up for a team meeting. (Sports Photographer / Trevor Miceli)
Rowan women’s volleyball suffered a, 3-0, loss on Tuesday night to the Kean Cougars at D’Angola Gymnasium to end their nine-match winning streak. It’s their first loss in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) and also their first straight-set loss since Aug. 29 at No. 3 Johns Hopkins to open the season.
It was neck in the first set, with ties at 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 7 -7, and 8-8. Then, Kean’s Aubre Adams went on the serve for the Cougars, which sparked a three-point rally and put the hosts in control. Rowan did not get a lead back until 22-21, when Raven Albrecht gained a crucial point late into the set.
Tied again at 22-22, Abby Chadwick gained another huge point with a kill to give Rowan the lead again late into the opening set. Kean’s Cayley Elena Morrison gained a point, followed by an attack error by the Profs which gave the Cougars set-point. Another Rowan attack error sealed the deal for the opening set, and put Rowan down, 1-0.
It seemed the middle set would be the same back-and-forth action, and some points would swing Rowan’s way to tie the match, 1-1, after two sets. Again, tied at every score up to 5-5. Back-to-back kills by Kean’s Ashley Torok and an attack error from Rowan gave the Cougars an 8-6 lead, an advantage that was never surrendered.
Kean’s lead got up to, 18-12, and that’s when acting head coach Matt Verlinghieri called a timeout.
“We struggled a little bit on our end,” Verlinghieri said. “All things, all systems. And Kean played great. They’re a great team with a great coach. So we got some work to do.”
With backs against the wall in set three, the Profs seemed to be behind before winning or losing a point. The Profs had the set tied at, 9-9, but that’s where Kean found their footing, eventually getting a lead up to, 20-11, when the Profs called timeout.
An attack error from Kean gave Rowan the serve back, but a service error from Jena Kaul put the Cougars right back on the attacking end.
Jessica Smart, who earned NJAC Player of the Week on Monday, got a kill to give Rowan the service back, headed by Vanessa Hutchinson. An attack error off Hutchinson’s serve ended the game, and gave Kean a key NJAC win over Rowan.
Kean middle hitter Cayley Elena Morrison is Kean’s second-leader in kills on the season, and certainly used her 6-2 stature as an advantage against the Profs, garnering 14 kills throughout the three sets.
“We need to have a better plan in place for her come next time we see her, in the playoffs,” Verlinghieri said.
Jessica Smart was the only Prof in double-figures on kills, tallying 11.
The loss gives Rowan a conference record of 18-5 and 4-1 in the NJAC. Kean also finds themselves at 4-1, as the two are now tied for the conference’s top spot.
The Profs are set to host Rutgers-Camden on Thursday night at Esbjornson Gymnasium against the conference’s bottom-ranked team, with a 9-14 overall record.
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