Mahwah, NJ:  In the semi-final match-up of the 2016 New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship tournament, the #1 seeded Roadrunners of Ramapo College, led by Larysa Iwaskiw with a double-double, defeated the #4 seeded Cougars of Kean University, 3-1 (17-25, 25-20, 25-20, 25-21) to advance to the finals this weekend. With the win the Roadrunners improve to 24-4 overall while Kean falls to 21-12 ending their 2016 season. 
 
Ramapo was led by Iwaskiw who recorded a double-double with 23 kills and 15 digs. She also added two aces and three assists in the win. Rachel Selmore picked up ten kills as the team went 49-153 with 22 errors hitting .176. Kate Shirkey and Selmore split the setting duties collecting 19 and 16 assists respectively while Karina Almeda and Kristen Behrens recorded 11 and ten digs respectively on the night. For the Cougars, Vikki Stec collected a team leading 13 kills and Sara Ridgway added 11 while Joelle Tondi and Jesse Larkin each added ten. The team recorded 54 kills combined with 25 errors on 144 attempts hitting .201 in the loss.  The defense was led by Alexis Whitney with 20 digs and Tondi with 16. Brianna Calvano dished out 43 assists on the night.
 
In the first set the Cougars jumped out to a 3-0 lead with two kills to open the match, and pushed to an 11-6 advantage forcing a Ramapo time out. The Roadrunners would score two straight points from Selmore and Iwaskiw to come within three, but a service error would put the ball back in the hands of Kean leading 12-8. A kill from Brett Harper put Kean up 16-10 and a 5-1 run from Ramapo would close the gap to 15-17 with an ace from Sarah Mulligan. Kean would prove to be too much down the stretch as Ridgway closed out the set with a kill giving the Cougars the 25-17 set one win.  The Cougars hit .270 with Ridgway and Tondi each recording four kills. Calvano dished out 12 assists and Whitney picked up five digs. Iwaskiw led Ramapo with four digs as the team hit .118 with nine kills and five errors on 34 attempts. Iwaskiw and Mulligan each picked up four digs.
 
Set two was a flip flop match-up as the first 28 points combined alternated back and forth until the two teams were tied at 14 with a kill from Iwaskiw. Ramapo collected a 6-1 run, capped off by an ace from Iwaskiw to take a 20-15 lead, before closing out the set 25-20 with a kill from Iwaskiw to tie the match at 1-1. Iwaskiw collected five kills in the win as the team went 13-41 with four errors hitting .220. Selmore dished out four assists and Almeda picked up seven digs. Larkin led Kean with five kills as the team combined hitting .289 with 16 kills on 38 attempts and five errors. Calvano collected 14 assists and Tondi and Whitney each recorded six digs.
 
In the third set it was Ramapo who jumped out to a 6-0 lead with four kills from Iwaskiw, an ace from Almeda, and a Kean hitting error. Ramapo would go ahead 7-0 after a Kean timeout, before the Cougars got on the board with a point from Larkin. The Cougars would slowly close the gap coming within four points, 8-12 off a Ramapo hitting error but two straight Kean errors would put Ramapo ahead 14-8. Capped off by an error from Ramapo, Kean would string together a 9-5 run to close the gap to just two points, 17-19. Down the stretch the Cougars would come within two points at 20-22 but Ramapo pushed to take the set, 25-20 with the final point coming on a Kean error. Iwaskiw had ten of Ramapo's 14 kills in the set as they hit .162 as a team. Selmore collected six assists and Iwaskiw and Kristen Behrens each picked up five digs. Kean was held to just eight kills with seven errors on 30 attempts hitting .033 in the loss. Stec led with three kills and Whitney picked up six digs.
 
The two teams traded points to start the fourth set until with the score tied at seven, Ramapo put together three points to go ahead 10-7 with a kill from Emily Guzman. Larkin would put down a kill capping off a 4-1 Kean run to tie the set at 11, to set up another see-saw battle over the next six points ending at 17-17. The Roadrunners went ahead 20-17 with a block from Guzman and Samantha Main but three straight Cougar points would again knot the set, this time at 20 all. Ramapo would outscore Kean in the final stretch to take set four, 25-21 and the match 3-1. Selmore collected five kills in the final set as the team went 13-41 with five errors hitting .195. Shirley dished out five assists. For Kean, Stec led with four kills and Calvano collected a team leading 11 assists. Tondi and Kortnee Nelson each picked up four digs on defense.
 
Ramapo will take on #3 seed, Montclair State on Saturday, November 5th at the Bradley Center at 5pm in the 2016 NJAC championship match.