The College of Staten Island men’s volleyball team failed in its attempt to level their CUNYAC record, falling on the road to Baruch College by a 3-0 at the ARC Arena in Manhattan. Baruch prevailed by scores of 25-15, 25-17, and 25-11 to improve to 5-9 overall and 4-0 in the CUNYAC, while CSI fell to 3-8, 2-2, respectively.
Baruch was very good at the front line tonight, tallying 17 kills in each of the first two sets. In the opener, Nicholas Godino started with a pair of kills to extend BC up 7-2 early. After a Zebin Guo kill for CSI helped narrow the lead down to 7-5, Baruch answered with a 6-2 run to take a more comfortable lead. Later, another 6-1 spurt, highlighted by two Steven Lopez kills, gave BC a 20-12 advantage and they went on to the 25-15 win.
In the second set the teams went back and forth through seven ties in the first 14 points. The score was then tied 9-9, when the Bearcats made an important 10-3 run, spearheaded by five kills all by different BC players. CSI used a couple of Mark Palencia kills to work their way back but BC was still able to hang on to a 25-17 final.
Again, a run midway through the set was the difference in the third set. A kill by Adil El Haddad helped CSI to a 6-5 early lead, and CSI was able to later tie the game at 10-10 after a BC error. But BC then came alive, scoring 11 straight points, guided by two kills each from Godino and Samuel Rabidoux to take a commanding 21-10 edge en route to the 25-11 final.
Godino led all with 15 kills, followed by Steven Lopez’s 10 for Baruch, while Palencia led the Dolphins with 10 kills as well. Brendan Murphy led BC with 29 assists while BC’s Kryiakos Semertzidis led all scorers with 9 digs.
CSI will be back in action on Saturday when they travel to CCNY for a CUNYAC Trimatch. They may Lehman at 10am followed by CCNY at 12 Noon.
