Mahwah, NJ:  Hayley Merrill led the #3 seeded Red Hawks of Montclair State to the 2016 New Jersey Athletic Conference Women's Volleyball  Championship tonight as they defeated the top-seeded Roadrunners of Ramapo College, 3-1 (25-20, 25-21, 22-25, 25-16).  With the win MSU earns the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship Tournament as they improve to 26-8 overall.  With the loss Ramapo falls to 24-5. 
 
Merrill hit 19-59 with six errors hitting .220 as the Red Hawks combined for 55 kills on 151 attempts with 15 errors hitting .265 on the night.  Courtney Matlock collected 16 kills and Ashley Griffith dished out 47 assists.  The defense was led by April DiAngelo with 26 digs while Merrill added 13 and Griffith and Danielle Olcese each ten. 
 
Larysa Iwaskiw finished the night leading Ramapo with 27 kills and Karina Almeda added 11 as the team hit .074 with 46 kills and 34 errors on 162 attempts.  Rachel Selmore led in assists with 23 and Kate Shirkey added 17.  The team's defensive game was led by Almeda with 20, Iwaskiw with 18 and Kristen Behrens with 13.
 
In the first set Ramapo jumped ahead to an 8-3 lead but MSU would fight back to tie that set at 10-10, gaining the lead at 11-10 with a Ramapo hitting error.  The Red Hawks never trailed again down the stretch taking set one, 25-20. Matlock led the Red Hawks in the first set as she collected five kills on six attempts hitting .833 with no errors. Merrill added four and Griffith dished out 13 assists in the win.  The team hit a combined 15-33 with four errors hitting .333.  For Ramapo, Iwaskiw posted four kills and Emily Guzman chipped in three as the team hit .061 with nine kills and seven errors on 33 attempts. 
 
Montclair took a 2-0 match lead with a 25-21 set two win behind five kills each from Merrill and Matlock.  The two teams traded points until a block by Selmore and Samantha Main would knot the set at 10 all.  MSU would string together two points to go ahead 12-10, and again they did not turn back taking the set by four points.  Montclair hit .304 as a team with 17 kills on 46 attempts and three errors.  Griffith dished out 15 assists and DiAngelo picked up seven digs.  Iwaskiw collected nine kills for Ramapo as Selmore assisted on eight points.  The defense was led by Behrens with four digs.
 
The Roadrunners would take the lead at the start of the third as they worked to a 6-2 lead capped by a MSU error forcing the Red Hawks to take a timeout.  Ramapo would get an ace from Behrens out of the timeout to go ahead 7-2.  Back-to-back Montclair errors would give Ramapo a 14-6 lead and a kill from Matlock would close the gap, 7-14.  The Roadrunners would continue to hold onto their advantage but the Red Hawks would string together a mini run, capped with a kill from Merrill and a Ramapo hitting error forcing a Ramapo timeout with the Roadrunners ahead, 20-16.  Coming out of the timeout Merrill slammed down another kill closing the gap, 17-20, but kills from Iwaskiw and Guzman would put Ramapo up, 22-17.  In the end Ramapo would out score MSU in the final points taking the set, 25-22 with a block from Main and Selmore.  Iwaskiw put away nine kills in the win with the team combining for 14 hitting .109.  Selmore dished out six assists and the defense was led by Almeda with ten digs.  Merrill led MSU with five kills and Matlock added four while Griffith collected ten assists.  DiAngelo picked up ten digs.
 
With set four tied at two all, MSU would string together three points to go ahead 5-2.  With a kill from Merrill the Red Hawks spread the lead to 7-3 before Iwaskiw slammed down a kill of her own to close the gap at 5-8.  A Ramapo hitting error would give MSU a 13-9 advantage and with MSU ahead 16-9 after another Ramapo error, the Roadrunners would use their second timeout of the set.  MSU would prove to be too much for Ramapo down the stretch taking set four, 25-16.  Merrill led with five kills and Griffith dished out nine assists while Merrill picked up a team leading six digs in the win.  Iwaskiw and Almeda led Ramapo with five kills as Iwaskiw picked up six digs.
 
Ramapo awaits news on an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament or a bid to the 2016 ECAC Championship Tournament.  News on both will be announced Monday.