The College of Staten Island women’s volleyball team took to the road and got a big victory tonight, scoring a 3-1 win over York College in an important CUNYAC test in Jamaica, NY. The Dolphins won by scores of 25-23, 22-25, 25-18, and 25-13. The win snapped a four game losing streak for the Dolphins and improved them to 3-6 overall and an even 2-2 within the CUNYAC, while York, losers of eight-straight, are now 2-11, 1-4, respectively.
Three service aces by Siobhan Granich got CSI off to a nice start in the first set, and CSI held a commanding, 12-3, lead before York started to mount a feverish comeback. A 15-4 York run made it all even at 23-23 in the first stanza, but a YC error by Tiandra Jones on a serve game CSI game-point, and on the following play, Granich killed one down to stake CSI with the early lead.
York, however, had built some momentum, and they rode it in the second set, spreading out eight kills in the set while CSI made 9 errors in what amounted to a Cardinals win, 25-22. This time, York got off to an 11-2 lead and it was CSI that mounted a comeback, going on a 7-0 run at one point thanks to another pair of Granich kills. York, however, rebounded in time to score four of the game’s final five points to knot things up, 1-1.
The break was a welcomed one for CSI, and they used it to settle in and readjust. York exploded out to a 7-1 lead in the third set, but the Dolphins made the most of a Cardinals error and a Skenderjie Mila kill to get back into it, and later, CSI posted a 6-1 run to tie at 10-10. CSI started to draw away and eventually took a big 22-17 lead on a Vanessa Reyes kill, and that sparked a 25-18 win, finalized by an Angelica Paulino ace.
That seemed to draw some life out of the Cardinals and CSI took advantage, starting the fourth set on a 7-0 run sparked by Reyes and Granich kills. York tried in vain to come back but a Mila ace capped things and extended CSI’s lead to 17-5 en route to the lopsided 25-13 final.
CSI was led by Granich’s 10 kills, followed by 9 for Mila and seven by Reyes, who also led with five aces. CUNYAC Libero of the Week Victoria Wong shouldered the back line with 29 digs. Tiandra Jones led York with 9 kills while Shauncia McClendon finished with seven aces and 13 digs.
CSI is next in action again on the road, travelling to face Rutgers-Newark on Thursday for a 7pm non-conference tilt in Newark, NJ.