Mahwah, NJ:  The #4 seeded Ramapo College Roadrunners faced off with the #5 seeded Red Hawks of Montclair State tonight at the Bradley Center in the opening round of the 2014 New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship Tournament.  With a 3-2 (15-25, 25-18, 23-25, 25-18, 15-10) victory, the Roadrunners advance to the semi-final round to face the #1 seeded Ospreys of Richard Stockton on Thursday, November 6th at 7pm on the road.  The Roadrunners improve to25-8 overall with the win, while MSU falls to 23-11.
 
Montclair took set one, 25-15, behind a .400 hitting performance from rookie Madison Maute.  Maute collected three kills as the team combined for 11, hitting .281 with just two errors.  The Red Hawks opened to a 9-4 lead behind two kills from Maute, before the Roadrunners closed the gap, 8-10, with a kill from Emily Guzman.  The Red Hawks continued to spread their lead climbing to a six-point advantage, 18-12, with a kill from Melissa Terpstra.  With Montclair ahead, 22-15, two Ramapo errors, split by an ace from Elise Brackett, gave the Red Hawks the ten-point game one win.  The Roadrunners were led by rookie Larysa Iwaskiw who collected four kills as the team combined for nine, with seven errors, hitting .053 in the loss.
 
The Roadrunners came out on top in the second set, 25-18, with Iwaskiw and Katelyn Ward collecting three kills each.  Ramapo hit .158 as a team with 11 kills on 38 attempts and five errors.  MSU went 11-34 with eight errors, hitting .088.  Maute and Hayley Merrill put away four kills each.  The two teams went point-for-point at the start of the second set, until a three-point run, sparked by Iwaskiw, put the Roadrunners ahead 7-4.  A ball handling error from Montclair, gave Ramapo an 11-6 lead, and forced a Red Hawk time out, but the Red Hawks came out of the time out scoring four straight points to close the gap, 10-11.  The Roadrunners strung together points to stay on top of the Red Hawks, climbing to an 18-15 lead, forcing another Montclair time out.  The Red Hawks took the first point out of the time out but the Roadrunners answered back with four straight to jump ahead 22-16.  A MSU error sparked the run that was capped off with an ace from Iwaskiw.  The Roadrunners held Montclair to just two additional points, while earning three, and the game two win. 
 
The Red Hawks stepped away with game three, 25-23, with seven kills from Maute.  The team went 11-39 with just three errors hitting .205.  The game started with back and forth points until a 6-6 tie.  Ramapo's Kaitlin Mac Iver dumped the ball over the net to spark a mini three-point run to jump ahead, 9-6, but the Red Hawks answered back with a kill from Courtney Matlock, which would spark a run to tie the game at 10-10.  A Ramapo error and an ace from MSU, forced a Ramapo time out with Montclair leading 12-10.  MSU continued to push climbing to a 14-10 advantage, before a service error closed the gap, 14-11.  Montclair pushed ahead to an 18-15 lead before a kill from Iwaskiw and a Montclair error, put the Roadrunners within one, 18-19.  With the game tied at 22, the Red Hawks collected two straight points with an ace from Matlock and a kill from Lily Scanzillo, to take a 24-22 advantage.  The Red Hawks closed the set on a kill from Maute taking the game, and a 2-1 match lead.  Ramapo was led by Iwaskiw in the loss who collected five kills.
 
Ramapo took game four, 25-18, after the Red Hawks opened the game with a 6-2 lead.   Ramapo slowly began to chip away, tying the game at 10-10 on a MSU attacking error.  With the game tied at 11, a kill from Smart, book ended by two MSU errors, gave the Roadrunners a 14-12 lead, to force another Montclair time out.  The Red Hawks came within two points on two occasions (13-15, 15-17), but it wasn't enough as Ramapo pushed to a 20-16 lead, with an ace from Guzman.  The Roadrunners out scored MSU, 5-2 down the stretch to take the game, 25-18, and tie the match at 2-2. The Roadrunners were again led by Iwaskiw, this time with four kills.  Smart chipped in four of her own.  The team combined for 14 kills on 48 assists with six errors hitting .167.  MSU went 10-51 with nine errors hitting .020.
 
Ramapo wrapped up the night with a 15-10 game five win to take home the 3-2 victory.  The two teams again went point for point until a 7-7 tie when a MSU error and a kill from Guzman put the Roadrunners on top, 9-7.  Ramapo pushed to out score the Red Hawks, 6-3 down the stretch to earn an appearance in the semi-final match-up.  Ward and Iwaskiw led the Roadrunners with three kills each in the final set, as the team went 8-28 with one error hitting .250.  Merrill led MSU with three kills.  The Red Hawks hit a combined .097 with eight kills on 31 attempts with five errors in the final game of the night.
 
Iwaskiw led the Roadrunners with 19 kills and 22 digs, while Mac Iver dished out a team leading 43 assists.  Irmak Dagistanli led the Roadrunners' defense with 36 digs, while Mac Iver, Emily Harris, and Natalia Saavedra each picked up ten of their own.  The Roadrunners combined on offense for 54 kills hitting .140 with 27 errors on 193 attempts.
 
Montclair was led by Maute who collected 17 kills in the loss.  Merrill added 13 and Matlock ten, as the team went 51-187 with 27 errors, hitting .128.  Angela Campo dished out 46 assists and Scanzillo picked up a team leading 31 digs.
 
On the opposite side of the bracket, with a sweep, the #3 seeded Cougars of Kean University, defeated the #6 seeded Pioneers of William Paterson, to advance to the semi-final match-up against #2 Rowan University on Thursday, November 6th at 7pm.