Sept. 28, 2007

Newark, New Jersey - Jessica Endres had 24 kills and hit .464 as Utah Valley won for the second time on Friday at the NJIT Invitational, defeating host NJIT in four games (25-30, 30-25, 30-21, 30-28).

"We were actually hoping to not play her as much because she is playing sick," said head coach Sam Atoa of Endres. "But she just came out and did what we needed her to do. She had a great match."

The Wolverines defeated Columbia 3-1 earlier in the day and will wrap up play at the invitational on Saturday morning at 8am MT against St. Francis (NY).

Dani Robison had the best match of her young career with 11 kills and a .562 percentage while Kayli Broadbent had 14 kills and Meagan Bluth had 10 as four UV players reached double figure kills.

"Dani stepped up and did some really good things and I thought Terin Ledall played huge for us," said Atoa.

Utah Valley, who out-hit the Highlanders .247 to .155 in the match, extended its win streak to four matches and moved to 9-5 on the season. NJIT dropped to 6-15 with the loss.

After the teams each won with identical 30-25 scores in the first two games, UV took control of the match with a 30-21 win in game three.

In the third, the Wolverines built a quick 7-2 lead on the strength of two kills each from Endres and Ledall. After NJIT closed within two at 8-6, a 6-1 run gave UV a 14-7 advantage. From there the Wolverines built the lead to as much as 12 at 25-13 before taking the game by nine.

The fourth game was the closest of the night, with 11 ties and five lead changes. NJIT built a 15-12 lead before three straight by UV knotted the game at the mid-way point.

After the Highlanders built the lead back to two at 17-15, Endres had three kills as part of four straight points that gave Utah Valley the lead for good.

The win was the first of nine matches this season against fellow Division I Independent teams for Utah Valley.

After wrapping up the NJIT Invitational on Saturday, the Wolverines will travel to Chicago State for a match on Monday night.