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EASTON, Pa. -- The Lafayette women's volleyball team fell to NJIT in straight sets (25-23, 25-14, 25-20) to open the Lafayette Invitational Friday night.

The opening set of the night was tightly contested as neither team could piece together any runs of offense. The score was tied on 12 separate occasions times throughout the set, with the turning point of the set coming with the score knotted at 21-21. The Highlanders tacked on two points before a Sonia Musso kill and an NJIT attack error caused the visitors to call a timeout. NJIT came out of the timeout and secure the last two points to take the set 25-23.

Lafayette engineered a 4-0 run at the start of the second set to take a 4-2 lead off of kills from Tori Smith and Katrina Ruggiero. The Highlanders answered with their own run of five straight points, adding two more to force a Leopards timeout with the score sitting at 12-8 in favor of NJIT. Lafayette could not get closer than four the rest of the way, as the Highlanders ran away with the set, finishing with a final score of 25-14.

The third and final set of the evening opened with the teams trading blows once again, with the Highlanders using a four-point run to open a slim 9-5 lead. The Leopards forced an NJIT timeout after kills from Musso and Carly Kutschke put Lafayette back into the lead with the score at 11-10. The set remained close from that point forward, with the Highlanders eventually pulling away with a trio of kills to outlast the Leopard's comeback attempt, taking the set 25-20 and the match 3-0.

Ruggiero led the Leopards with eight kills while Julia Howard supplied a team-high 15 assists. Lexie Caraveo posted a team-best 14 digs while Howard chipped in eight. Tess Albyn and Madi Busler led the Highlanders with 10 kills apiece, while Liz Benson supplied a match-high 26 assists.

The Leopards return to the court at Kirby Sports Center tomorrow at 3 p.m. to close out the Lafayette Invitational against Fairleigh Dickinson.