The College of Staten Island men’s volleyball squad saw their three match win streak come to an end on Thursday after they were defeated by Pratt Institute, 3-2. The Dolphins will look to have a bounce back performance today in the final CUNYAC multi-match of the year. Staten Island will take on Lehman College and John Jay College at York College and will look to improve their CUNYAC standing as they are tied in seventh with Lehman College. John Jay is currently tied for third with York College with a 9-4 CUNYAC record.
CSI vs. JOHN JAY COLLEGE / LEHMAN COLLEGE AT-A-GLANCE
Matchup: CSI (7-17 overall, 3-10 CUNYAC) vs. John Jay (13-10 Overall, 9-4 CUNYAC), Lehman (5-17 overall, 3-10 CUNYAC)
Where: York College – 94-20 Guy R. Brewer Blvd., Jamaica, NY
First Serve: 9:00 am
All-Time Series: John Jay leads 3-0, Lehman leads 3-0
Last Year’s Result: John Jay won 3-1, 3-0, Lehman won 3-0, 3-0
Players To Watch (CSI): Khaleeq Baum is coming off of a career experience against Pratt Institute, which he tallied 16 kills in the five set loss. Baum has been a nice addition to the team after joining midway through the season and since joining he has played in eight matches and amassed 50 kills and six blocks. Song Shin Low has been a crucial part of this squad lately and has had 10+ kills in two of his last three matches and will hope that will translate to CUNYAC wins today.
Players to Watch (LC): After losing three straight the Lightning picked up a much needed win over Medgar Evers College 3-1. Orlando Vargas led the way with 17 kills as he has done for much of the season and will look to do the same against the Dolphins today. The Last time Vargas played against the Dolphins earlier in the year he recorded 23 kills on 43 attacks in the 3-1 win. Emmanuel Ortiz recorded 34 assists in the win over the Dolphins and will do his best to extend their win streak to two in a row against the Dolphins.
Players to Watch (JJC): John Jay has fallen into down times as the season becomes to come to a close and has only won, one of their last five matches. The Bloodhounds defeated the Dolphins 3-1 earlier this season and Jack Palleschi recorded 23 kills while hitting .354 in that meeting. Palleschi is just as deadly passing the ball as he is collecting kills as he moved the ball with precision and collected 12 assists in the last meeting as well. Juan DeJesus is the other point person for the Bloodhounds and recorded 12 kills and two blocks in the last meeting with the Dolphins.
News and Notes: The Dolphins have never defeated either of the teams the will play today and will try to pick up a pair of wins without two of their veteran players as they have been sidelined with injuries. The Dolphins will head into the multi-match on a one match losing streak while John Jay and Lehman will both come in on a one game win streak. Prior to last night’s loss to Pratt in five sets, Coach Juan Lopez and his team were 3-1 all-time in game five’s. As a team the Dolphins are hitting .067 as a team while they’re allowing their opponents to hit .201. Staten Island will need to hit better than their season average today as a pair of wins will bump them up the CUNYAC standings and out of top of the table Hunter College’s path in the first round of the playoffs.
