The College of Staten Island men’s volleyball program suffered a tough CUNYAC loss tonight at the hands of John Jay College. The Bloodhounds handed the Dolphins their second straight loss via a 3-1 victory. The win boosts the Bloodhounds’ record to 9-14 overall and 2-4 in the CUNYAC while dropping the Dolphins to 5-11 and 2-5 in the CUNYAC.
Match 1: John Jay 3, Staten Island 1 (23-25, 25-22, 17-25, 16-25)
The Dolphins battled with the Bloodhounds back-and-forth in the first set of the night. The Dolphins came up just short however and fell 23-25. They trailed by four late in the set, 16-20, but were able to make up ground as the set moved forward, bringing it within just one. Down 22-21 Zebin Guo served it over the net where the Bloodhounds were waiting and were able to set up Alexander Santana for the kill to put the Bloodhounds up 23-21. Down two with the set on the line, Danil Kukovitskiy would serve the ball and cause Steven Alvarado to have a ball handling error, giving the Dolphins a glimmer of hope. Kukovitskiy would serve once again and the Bloodhounds would pass the ball around nicely but have Jerson Guaman power one into the net to make it a one-point contest. The Bloodhounds would call a timeout to regroup. The Dolphins would come out of the timeout and put their serve right into the net to end the set 25-23.
The second set went in the Dolphins’ favor as they were able to come out on top, 25-22. The Dolphins had a large lead midway through the set. Up 17-9 the Bloodhounds called a timeout and received tactical advice from their coach and that advice helped the Bloodhounds form a comeback to shrink their large deficit. Mark Palencia kept the Dolphins afloat during the lull in their production and was able to limp the Dolphins to the finish line over a surging Bloodhounds squad. CSI played outstanding throughout this set but allowed the Bloodhounds to mount a comeback that came up just short. CSI tallied a match-high 14 kills in the second set with just six errors, good for a .250 hitting percentage.
The third set saw the insertion of Edwin Hernandez for the Bloodhounds. Hernandez’s size was too much for the Dolphins to handle as he was able to get free shots against single blockers. The Dolphins did their best to cope with the power hitter but he was able to find the gaps in the Dolphins’ defensive force. Hernandez would record 10 kills on 12 attacks with no errors in the third set which saw the Dolphins fall 25-17. Adil El Haddad was able to set up his teammates for success but they were unable to string together multiple points in a row to mount a comeback to combat John Jay’s offensive presence.
The fourth and final set saw the Dolphins collapse offensively as they managed to collect just six kills, a match-low with four errors on just 22 total attacks. The Bloodhounds would jump out to an 18-10 lead, a lead the Dolphins were unable to comeback from. The Bloodhounds continued to go on mini runs whereas the Dolphins struggled to pair two points together. The Dolphins made a small surge at the end of the set but it was too little too late for them as a service error once again doomed the Dolphins for the final point.
Adil El Haddad finished the night with 32 assists while Khaleeq Baum led the charge with 13 kills followed by 12 by Palencia. Danil Kukovitskiy was active on the net once again, tallying one solo block while Guo was active on the back line collecting 12 digs.
The Dolphins will return to action on Saturday, March 25 when they travel to the Bronx, NY to participate in a tri-match against Lehman College and Sarah Lawrence starting at 12:00 pm.
