The College of Staten Island men’s volleyball team officially introduced their CUNYAC season today debuting at Lehman College for a tri-natch. Unfortunately, CSI would drop both ends this afternoon, falling to City College of New York, 3-1, before losing to the hosts, 3-0. CSi fell to 1-5 overall and 0-2 within the conference, while CCNY improved to 7-1, 1-1, respectively, and Lehman improved to 7-5, 2-0, respectively.
MATCH ONE – CCNY 3, STATEN ISLAND 1 (25-15, 21-25, 25-12, 25-21)
In the opener, CSI hung tough, taking a second set to tie things up, but then a runaway for CCNY in the third set propelled them to a solid final set that saw them take a 3-1 win, winning 25-21 in the deciding set.
In the opening set, CSI got up 4-1, but the Beavers stormed back to eventually take a 7-6 lead on a Maldonado Madrid kill. That sparked a run that saw CCNY take an 11-6 lead thanks to two Maldonado Madrid aces as well. CSI would claw back to within 13-10, helped by a Christian Dumadag kill, but then CCNY answered with a 6-1 run, powered by a Hei Chun Chan kill to essentially seal the set.
CSI answered back with a solid second set. This time it was the Beavers getting out to a 7-4 edge before CSi answered back nicely. The Dolphins finally overturned things by going up 12-11 thanks largely to a Dumadag kill and a Steven Caruso service ace. After CCNY tied, the Dolphins then took over with an 8-0 run, helped along by two more Dumadag kills and another by Mark Palencia. That was enough for CSI to take a 25-21 win.
Unfortunately for the Dolphins, however, they saw momentum cease in the third set, as the Beavers got out to a 4-1 lead in the third and then extended to 17-7 as Andres Ramirez added an ace and Maldonado Madrid powered in three kills. CCNY would go on to out-score CSI, 8-5 down the stretch taking a 25-12 winner.
The fourth set would prove to be the final one, as CCNY broke an early 11-11 tie with a 4-0 run to take control and never looked back. Two errors by CSI on teh attacking side and yet another Maldonado Madrid kill did the damage. CSi closed to 18-16 on a Dumadag kill, but then CCNY came back with a kill and a CSI error to close things out.
As a team CCNY out-killed CSI, 42-28, with Maldonado Madrid posting 20 kills and four aces to lead the way. David Cham posted a game-high 15 digs for CCNY as well. Dumadag finished with 11 kills for CSI, followed by Herman Liu’s four. James Yi had four blocks while Zebin Guo finished with 12 digs to lead defensively.
MATCH TWO – LEHMAN 3, STATEN ISLAND 0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-17)
In the opening set, Lehman set the tone for the match by going on a 7-1 run to open play. George Montilla started with a pair of aces and then Felipe Velandia added two more alongside a kill. CSI responded nicely to close to within 9-7 in the early stages thanks to a kill by Palencia and three LC errors, and were finally able to force an 11-11 tie later on a Dumadag kill.
The score would be tied late, 14-14, until Lehman then exploded again for a 4-0 run on kills by Roberto Ventura Diaz and Yaw Eshun. Later a Velandia put LC up 22-17, and from there the Lightning were able to close it out.
In the second set, Lehman did not disappoint or relinquish the lead like they did in the first. A Ventura Diaz kill made it 7-3 early, and after CSI closed in to make it just 8-6, Lehman pounced again and took an 8-2 run to open the second set’s lead to 16-8. The Lightning would then finish the set on a 9-5 bender to score the lopsided, 25-13, win, as Ventura Diaz and Velandia added more kills.
In the final set, a kill by Caruso gave CSI an early, 6-5, lead, but LC responded with a 4-0 spurt, started by a John Mark Flores kill to give Lehman the lead for good. CSI would later force a 10-10 tie and then came to within one, 13-12 on a Lehman error, but the Lightning closed the set on a 12-5 run to end it in three. Jose Bautista would add two aces for Lehman and Flores added another kill.
Velandia finished with eight kills to lead Lehman, adding nine digs. Both Eshun and Ventura Diz topped out with seven kills apiece. CSI was led by Dumadag’s five kills while Caruso led with eight digs.
CSI will now have a full week off before returning to action on Tuesday, February 27, when they host Hunter College at 6pm in their home opener of the 2018 season.
