The College of Staten Island men’s volleyball team fell for the second-straight outing, suffering a 3-0 setback against Baruch College in what was their next to last home games of the season. The Bearcats won by scores of 25-12, 25-11, and 25-10, raising their record to 8-15 overall while CSI fell to 6-13.
Baruch took a quick, 5-0, lead in the opener, making the most of three straight CSi attack errors before Mark Palencia would put one away. After CSI cut the lead to 6-3 in the opening set, however, the Bearcats went on one of many tears, breaking off a 7-0 run, aided by two Nathaniel Chin kills and an ace by Jacob Rudin. Later in the set, Chin would add three more kills to help Baruch to a another 4-0 spurt to help close out the first set, 25-12.
In the second set, Baruch once again raced out to a big lead, this time 9-1, fueled by a pair of kills by Rudin and Chin and another by Nicholas Godino. Three CSI kills by Anthony Vigilante in the set helped pace CSI but the overpowering Bearcats were too much, closing on a 7-5 run to end it at 25-11. Ryan Pape came on in the third set for Baruch and he would finish nicely, notching three kills as BC overcame a 2-0 hole to take the lead for good.
Chin would end up leading the Bearcats with 14 kills, while Brendan Murphy finished with 22 assists. Godino would finish with 14 digs while Pape added one solo block and four block assists. For the Dolphins, they were paced by Mark Palencia’s six kills, while Brandon Lei tallied 14 assists. Palencia added a team-high eight digs while Brandon Lei and Zebin Guo added six digs as well.
The Dolphins will be back in action on Tuesday, April 4, when they visit York College in the CUNYAC finale at 7pm.
