JACKSONVILLE, Fla., September 22, 2017 – In its first day down at the Florida State College at Jacksonville Tournament on Friday, the No. 16 Monroe College women's volleyball team split its first two matches of the weekend. The Mustangs defeated Palm Beach State College in three sets, but finished the day with a tough defeat to No. 1 Miami Dade College in four frames. The Mustangs move to 8-3 on the season after Friday's split.
 
MATCH 1: #16 MONROE 3, PALM BEACH STATE 0
The Mustangs came out hot in the first set, hitting .414 to pick up a 25-19 win. Another close set went the way of the Mustangs, as they took a 2-0 lead with a 25-21 victory. Monroe closed out their first match of the weekend with a 25-20 win for another straight-set victory, the Mustangs' fifth in a row.
 
Maria Camila Salazar led the Mustangs with 11 kills and added four blocks in a strong match. Marissa Hackett hit an outrageous .800 with eight kills and a block. Karla Figueroa and Keyshla Laureano Perez each contributed nine kills. Alexis Baer led the team with 24 assists, adding five digs as well. Nashally Eleutiza picked up a match-best 24 digs. Nerealice Quirindongo led all players with five blocks on the afternoon.
 
MATCH 2: #1 MIAMI DADE 3, #16 MONROE 1
Monroe stepped up to the plate for its toughest test of the season so far, and played one of its best sets of the year to take a 1-0 lead on the top-ranked Sharks. The Mustangs hit .423 with 15 kills in the opening frame to claim a 25-19 win. Miami Dade responded with a 25-11 win to even the match. The Mustangs and Sharks went back-and-forth in an evenly played third stanza, but Miami Dade managed to squeak out a 25-23 win to take a 2-1 lead in the match. The Mustangs led early on in the fourth set, but the Sharks once again managed to knot things up, eventually pulling away to take a 25-19 win and claim a 3-1 victory in the match.
 
Figueroa finished with a team-high 13 kills, while Laureano Perez added 12 of her own. Daline Rios dished out a team-best 19 assists. Eleutiza finished with 12 digs, while Quirindongo picked up another five blocks.
 
The Mustangs will look to close out the weekend with three more wins, starting with their final two matches in the Florida State at Jacksonville Tournament on Saturday, Sept. 23. They will take on Johnson County Community College at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, followed by a challenging matchup with No. 9 College of Central Florida at 10:30 a.m. The Mustangs will then travel over to Lake City, Fla. to take on Florida Gateway College at 7 p.m. to cap off the weekend down south.
 
ABOUT THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM AT MONROE COLLEGE
The athletic program at Monroe College encompasses a total of 26 teams competing across nine sports. There are 18 varsity and junior varsity programs, as well as club men's rugby, and the newly added club women's rugby team, competing on the New Rochelle campus as the Monroe Mustangs (NJCAA Division I). The Monroe Express, based out of the Bronx campus, will have six teams competing at the NJCAA Division III level beginning in the fall of 2017.
 
For more information about the Monroe Mustangs, please visit us at www.MonroeCollegeMustangs.com or follow us on social media: Facebook (Monroe College Athletics), Twitter (@Monroe_Mustangs) and Instagram (@monroemustangs), and follow Mustang women's volleyball on Instagram (@monroecollege_wvb).