Hoboken, NJ | The College of Staten Island men’s volleyball team played their final two matches of this season at Stevens Institute of Technology, dropping both matches in identical 3-0 fashion to both Hunter College and host Stevens. In the opener, CSI fell to the Hawks in a game that did not count towards the CUNYAC standings by scores of 25-16, 25-9, and 25-18. In the final match, CSI fell to the No. 3 ranked Ducks, 25-15, 25-7, and 25-11. CSI will finalize their season at 6-16. Hunter lifted their mark at the end of the afternoon to 21-10, while the Ducks lifted to 23-4.
MATCH 1 – Hunter 3, Staten Island 0
In the opening set, CSI introduced play with a kill from Christian Dumadag, but the Hawks reeled off four-straight to get them moving in the right direction, which included a kill and ace from Matthew Zukowski. After a Zebin Guo kill for CSI cut the Hunter lead later to 11-7, the Hawks ripped off a 6-3 run to pull up 17-10, highlighted by three Zukowski kills and another from Cyrus De Guzman. He would add another one late, and CSI committed a kill error to end the frame, 25-16 in HC’s favor.
After a modest, 2-2, tie to start the second set, it was all Hawks the rest of the way. Hunter went on an immediate 8-2 run, helped along by a De Guzman ace and a kill from Michael Jazgarski. Dumadag helped CSI pull to within 12-7, but HC responded again with a 13-2 run to end the set as Blake Hogan poured in three kills and Jben Mui added a pair as well.
In the third set, HC left nothing to chance, and raced out to a commanding 6-0 lead to start things off, helped along with two Jazgarski kills to start. A Michael Liang ace and two Zebin Guo kills got CSI to within 10-7, but the Hawks again rose up, posting a 7-3 advantage from there. The teams stayed even down the stretch but CSI could not slow down the HC attack and in the end Qendrim Shala added a late kill to help Hunter to the 25-18 clincher.
HC was led by Jazgarski’s eight kills with Hogan next in line with seven. Alec Helford posted 19 assists and eight digs to lead in both of those categories. CSI countered with eight kills from Guo and he finished second with six digs. Senior Ronald Tisbe finished first in that department with eight. HC out-killed CSI, 34-18, and CSI committed 24 attack errors to Hunter’s 12.
MATCH 2 – Stevens 3, Staten Island 0
The Ducks looked unstoppable early on in their match against CSI and kept it up for three consecutive sets. In the opener, Stevens raced out to a 9-0 lead, guided by three Ian Bennett kills. The teams would trade points most of the rest of the way, with Nick Orlando posting three-straight points at one point for Stevens via the kill. Tairou Diaman added a pair of put-aways for CSI, but the Dolphins would ultimately fall, 25-15.
A 7-1 start got things going in the second set for Stevens as Thomas Burrell and and Ryan Byrne got in the kill column early. Three-straight CSI attack errors helped Stevens take a 14-2 lead and by then the team was able to coast to a 25-7 finish.
In a recurring theme of the afternoon, Stevens again dominated early on in the final set, this time getting out to an 11-2 edge, using kills from six different attackers and an ace from Kristopher Knight to blast their way past the Dolphins. Steven Caruso and Dumadag answered with kills for CSI to cut the lead to 14-6 at one point, but a 5-0 run followed for Stevens, spear-headed by two Gabe Shankweiler aces. Jack Bittker finished the set off with a powerful kill to make it a 25-11 final.
Bennett finished tops on the Ducks with 13 kills, followed by Shankweiler with nine, while adding five digs. Michael Snajder led the way with seven digs while Grant Burden finished with 25 helpers. CSI was led by Dumadag’s five kills. CSI was out-killed, 42-10, by Stevens in this one.
