Hartwick Takes Down NJCU to Win 2025 Women's Volleyball Championship
The Hartwick Hawks won three-straight sets after dropping the opening frame to defeat New Jersey City University, 3-1, and win the 2025 ECAC Division III Women’s Volleyball Tournament Championship Sunday afternoon.
Shelby Swartz was named the ECAC Tournament’s Most Valuable Player after a 21-kill, 9-dig championship match performance. She hit 0.340 on 53 attempts, this coming after an 8-kill, 13-dig showing in the semifinal victory. Lucille Walker had another double-digit kill effort, with 10 kills and an ace in the championship match. Isabella Gracias had 8 kills and Sophia Palladino had 7 kills, 1 ace, and 11 digs to round out the Hawks’ attack. Braelyn Hornick piloted the entire attack with 42 assists and posted team-highs with 3 aces and 20 digs.
NJCU’s Kai Fitzpatrick followed-up her 28-kill semifinal match with another 28-kill performance to keep the Gothic Knights within striking distance of Hartwick throughout the match. She also had 16 digs, an ace, and a block assist on the afternoon. Diane Pugay was the only other NJCU with double-digit kills, tallying 17 kills and 16 digs in the game. Genesis Hibbard led all players with 22 digs and 4 aces, Brianna Melanson had 3 solo blocks and 2 block assists, while Rae Marrero orchestrated the offense with a game-high 48 assists.
The opening set felt like the start of a championship match with neither team leading by more than 2 points until Hartwick used a 3-0 run to break a 12-12 tie and take a 15-12 lead. The Hawks pushed their lead to 21-17, but the Gothic Knights weren’t done. NJCU used a 7-1 run to get to set point at 24-22, but a kill from Swartz and an attack error by Fitzpatrick made it 24-24 and extended the set. The teams traded points but after a kill by Fitzpatrick made it 27-26 for NJCU, she paired with Melanson for a block to take the set 28-26.
Hartwick came storming out in the second set and took a quick 13-3 lead over NJCU. The Gothic Knights used a 7-1 run to make it 14-10, but Hartwick re-asserted themselves and pushed their lead to 18-13. The Hawks kept pushing forward towards a second-set victory, but it didn’t come without NJCU making one final push. The Gothic Knights made it 22-20, but Hartwick won 3 of the final 4 points to take it 25-21.
NJCU led 3-0 and 5-3 early on, but a 9-0 Hartwick run put the Hawks up 12-5. This time, Hartwick kept the Gothic Knights from generating any kind of momentum and rolled to a 25-15 win to go up 2-sets-to-1.
With the season on the line, NJCU was doing everything they could to force a decisive fifth set, coming back to tie the game at 10-10, 11-11, and 12-12 after falling behind 9-6 to Hartwick. The Hawks, however, started showing their championship mettle and broke that 12-12 tie with a 5-1 run that put them ahead 17-13. NJCU rallied to take a 20-19 lead after a Fitzpatrick ace, but the error bug soon followed for the Gothic Knights and within just a couple of minutes, Hartwick was leading 23-20 and on the verge of victory. Hibbard’s ace brought it back to 23-22, but two points later, a kill by Swartz hit the ground and clinched the ECAC Championship for the Hawks.