The College of Staten Island women’s volleyball squad could not rebound and get back in the win column tonight, as they fell for the second consecutive time, this time at the hands of the United States Merchant Marine Academy by a 3-0 count at the CSI Sports & Recreation Center as part of non-league play. Scores of the games were 25-7, 25-14, and 25-15. The Dolphins fell to 6-12 with the loss, while the Mariners advanced to 12-8.
It was all Merchant Marines early and they never looked back, storming through the Dolphins in the first set thanks to a 12-3 opening run. Kayla Gleason posted a kill and two service aces in the run. The Mariners also scored the final eight points of the first set, spreading the action around and accumulating a heavy .476 attack percentage.
In the second set the Dolphins looked much crisper and stayed neck-and-neck with the Mariners until CSI posted a 7-1 run to take an 11-8 lead. Vanessa Reyes posted a kill and three aces in the block. But USMMA would regroup, and fired back with a big 7-0 response helped along by two Gleason aces. CSI stopped the bleeding, but USMMA would close on a 10-3 spurt to win 25-14 win, finished with an Emily Gramer kill.
In the final set, again CSI weathered an early rush to get the score tied at 6-6, but from there again USMMA timed an important 7-1 spurt to take over control. A Cassidy Iannariello ace got a 3-0 run started and the Dolphins cut the lead to 14-11 before the Mariners caught fire again and accumulated quick points to eventually win, 25-15.
USMMA scattered 34 kills to the Dolphins’ 9, and had 15 aces to CSI’s seven. Dominique Pope led all with 9 kills and 10 digs for USMMA, while Kyleigh Kappas and Gleason finished with four aces apiece. CSI saw four kills each from Siobhan Granich and Reyes, with Reyes adding four aces. Victoria Wong led defensively with 11 digs followed by Reyes’ 10.
The Dolphins will next be in action on Thursday, when they travel to face Hunter College for a 6pm road conference test.
