The College of Staten Island women’s volleyball introduced the home portion of their season tonight to great success, shutting out visiting St. Joseph’s College (Brooklyn), by a 3-0 count at the Sports & Recreation Center. CSI won the opener, 25-20, then won a marathon second-set, 35-33, and finished with a 25-17 winner in the deciding set. The win lifted the Dolphins to 2-0 overall under first-year head coach Juan Lopez, their finest start since 1999. The Bears leveled to 1-1 overall.
In the first two sets, CSI had to pick themselves off of the mat, falling behind early but rallying to score the win. In the first set, the Dolphins fell behind early, 3-1, before taking a quick, 7-4, lead before SJC rallied to tie the score eventually at 10-10. From there, the set swung back-and-forth before a kill by Pola Poskrobko and a service ace by Brittany Minondo gave the Dolphins a decisive, 18-14 lead. Poskrobko would add another kill down the stretch and three kill errors by the Bears gave CSI the 25-20 win.
The Bears were set to tie the score in the next set, using three Lauren GaNun kills to spark a 12-6 start, and the visitors then pulled ahead later, 17-10. The Dolphins began to chip away, scoring the next seven points, powered by a pair of Vanessa Reyes service aces. After a SJC timeout, CSI took the lead, 18-17, before SJC would rally to go ahead again, 22-18.
CSI responded again.
Consecutive kills by Poskrobko and Selma Kolenovic sparked another comeback, and CSI was able to tie at 23-23. From there, the set went back-and-forth. The Dolphins had a chance to clinch four times, while the Bears were at game-point four times as well, until finally a Poskrobko kill tied the game at 33-33 and then two consecutive kills by Kolenovic iced the set at 35-33, giving the Dolphins the inspiring win.
That set proved to be decisive as CSI was then able to storm out to a big early lead in the third set and never looked back. Two kills by Siobhan Granich sparked an early 9-3 lead for the Dolphins. The visitors made it interested, cutting it down to 13-10, but CSI responded with three-straight Kolenovic aces, and later three more aces, this time by Poskrobko helped CSI score the final five points to take a 25-17 winner.
CSI was led by Poskrobko’s 17 kills, adding 14 digs and a trio of aces. Kolenovic was next in line with 9 kills and five aces. GaNun finished with 15 kills for SJC, also accounting for 27 digs. The Dolphins will next be in action when they introduce the CUNYAC portion of their season. They will travel to Lehman College on Saturday, where they will face Brooklyn College at 11:00am, followed by John Jay College at 1pm as part of CUNYAC All-Day Play in the Bronx.
