The College of Staten Island women’s volleyball squad was back in action tonight against Lehman College. The Dolphins have struggled over the past couple of years against the Lightning and the same held true tonight as CSI lost 0-3 to Lehman in their third CUNYAC tilt of the season. With the loss the Dolphins drop to 2-4 overall and 0-3 in the CUNYAC while the Lightning improved to 5-4 overall and 2-1 in the CUNYAC.
CSI found themselves in a hole early on. The Lightning jumped out to an early 5-1 lead and looked to be pulling away. CSI would not be deterred however, as they were able to go on a 7-3 run to tie the game up 8-8.
Coach Juan Lopez was forced to call a timeout when Lehman began to gain momentum as the Lightning gained a quick three-point lead midway through the set. The timeout seemed to have the reverse effect that Coach Lopez hoped for as Lehman came out and struck five consecutive aces in a row to give the Lightning a 21-14 lead.
CSI was unable to recover from that offensive explosion from Lindsay Pantaleon as the Lightning would go on to solidify game one with a score of 25-16.
Game two started off as a close battle with the Dolphins having a slim lead. The women would off on some hardships and Lehman would take advantage of those errors and jump out to a large 16-8 lead before the Dolphins tried to slow them down with a timeout. CSI came out of the timeout with a look of determination on their face and scored the first point back out on the floor. The women continued to battle in the next serve however their attack was silenced by an Ashley Notaro attacking error which sent the point and the ball over to Lehman’s side of the court.
Lehman was looking victory in the eyes in game two as they stretched their lead to 21-11. This time the Dolphins were able to turn on their jets and really start to attack as they went on a scoring tear which was led by Siobhan Granich with two aces and a kill before the Lightning shut the door on the Dolphins’ resurgence to take game two with a score of 25-19.
Game three came down to the wire. The Dolphins were looking for their first win against Lehman College in 9 years and they tried to fight their way out of the deep hole they were in but in the end they were unable to do just that. CSI would fall in game three 22-25.
