Staten Island, NY | The College of Staten Island men’s volleyball team earned a tri-match split this afternoon, taking a straight-set win against Medgar Evers College before falling in straight games to Brooklyn College. CSI defeated MEC by scores of 25-17, 25-21, and 25-16, and after MEC fell to Brooklyn in the second of the three contests, CSI then fell to Brooklyn by scores of 27-25, 25-21, and 25-17. CSI went to 3-8 overall and 1-4 within the CUNYAC, while MEC finished the day at 4-9, 1-5, and Brooklyn upped their records to 9-7, 3-2, respectively.
GAME ONE – STATEN ISLAND 3, MEDGAR EVERS 0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-16)
After falling behind in the early stages, CSI rallied to break a 10-10 tie with four-straight points to take advantage over MEC in the opening set. Adil El Haddad laced in an ace while James Yi added a kill. Then, after MEC countered with a point, CSI went on a 6-0 run to put heavy distance between the two sides, paced by two Herman Liu kills, helping CSI for an eventual 25-17 win in the opening set.
Again CSI got off to a slow start in the second set, falling behind, 4-1, before putting together an 8-2 run to take back the lead. Zebin Guo and Christian Dumadag powered in kills as well. A kill by Abdul Kamara got MEC even again at 13-13, but a Dumadag kill and another by Brandon Lei gave CSI four-straight points as an answer, and later with the Cougars threatening again, Dumadag posted a kill and Liu garnered a set-winning ace to help CSI to a 25-21 win in the second frame.
Unlike the first two sets, CSI led from start-to-finish in the third frame. Guo drove in a kill to give CSI a 3-1 early lead, and later Dumadag added another to lift CSI to a 10-6 edge. Errors by CSI cut their lead to just 16-14, but the Dolphins finished strong following a timeout, going on a 9-2 run to end the frame and the game. Two Dumadag kills highlighted the run, while Guo and El Haddad added others.
Dumadag led the way with 12 kills on 25 attempts, while Liu finished with eight. El Haddad poured in 25 assists on CSI’s 32 kills as a team, and defensively, Guo posted 11 digs to lead the way with Michael Liang adding five. Liu had two of CSI’s three aces. For MEC, Emmanuel Jaquez led all with 13 kills on 32 attempts and eight digs, while Kareem Cyrus earned 16 assists. CSI out-killed MEC, 32-23, despite the Cougars holding a slim lead in attacks, 83-82.
GAME TWO – BROOKLYN 3, STATEN ISLAND 0 (27-25, 25-21, 25-17)
In a heavily-contested second match, the Bulldogs were just able to narrowly escape with a win in the opening set, despite CSI having a late lead. Brooklyn led marginally at the outset, and then extended to an 18-13 advantage thanks to kills by Ahmed Moawad and Vaughn Titus, but CSI answered with a great, 9-2, run that gave them a 22-20 edge. Guo had a pair of aces and a kill in the run. A Dumadag kill then put CSI on the doorstep of a win, 24-22, but CSI could not close the door, as Moawad was able to punch in a kill to tie it. Again, CSI had a chance to win up 25-24, but the Dolphins would error on their next attack. With the score knotted at 25-25, Gabriel Pjatak and Moawad ended it with two-straight killls to give BC a thrilling first-set win.
Things stayed competitive in the second frame as the teams swapped the lead a total of seven times in the set. A Moawad kill gave BC an early 9-7 lead, but CSI took it back on a Guo ace to make it 10-9 just moments later. The Dolphins found themselves down, 17-15 later, but battled back and took a 19-18 lead thanks to a Dumadag putaway. Unfortunately, CSI could not seize the momentum, and two-straight Bulldogs kills gave them back the lead for the final time. A kill by Pjatak and a CSI error closed the set at 25-21 in BC’s favor.
In the final set, CSI fell into an early hole and could not gain ground from there. BC went up 4-0 and then 10-4 thanks to three kills and an ace by Titus. CSI closed to within 13-9, but BC then went on a 7-2 run to put effective distance between the two sides, leading to the win.
CSI was led again by Dumadag’s 13 kills on 38 attacks, while Guo followed with seven kills and a team-best 14 digs and three aces. Titus was tops with 13 kills on 26 attacks, adding seven digs for Brooklyn, while Moawad finished with 11 kills. Snigdho Hasan poured in a team-high 10 digs.
CSI will next be in action on Thursday, when they travel to face Brooklyn College again this time on Brooklyn’s court in a game that will not count towards the CUNYAC’s standings.
