Box Score - Lehman
Box Score - Baruch
New York, NY - On Friday night, the men's volleyball team traveled downtown to Arc Arena on the campus of Baruch College to finish out the CUNYAC/EmblemHealth Championship Tournament. A quick three set win over Lehman in the semi finals pitted them against arch rivals Baruch in the finals that followed. Despite a valiant effort, the Hawks didn't have enough in the tank to get by the Bearcats as they fell in three straight sets.
Semifinal Recap
Pushing for its first championship game appearance since 2002 when Lehman defeated City College of New York, the Lightning instead bowed out in three sets – 25-21, 25-14, 25-21 – to the No. 2 seed Hunter College in the semifinals of the CUNYAC/EmblemHealth Men's Volleyball Championships held at Baruch College on Friday night.
Fresh off its quarterfinal win over Brooklyn College, Lehman fell behind 13-8 in the first set thanks to an aggressive-blocking Hunter team which turned back three Lightning shots in the early going. For the match, the Hawks blocked 10 Lehman shots, with Braien Otsla leading the way with six blocking assists.
Trailing 17-14, Lehman closed to within 17-16 on a kill by Nate Martin and an attack error by Otsla. However, following what would prove to be a theme throughout the match, the Lightning could not put together a sustained run, instead watching as Hunter took the next two points on a kill by Albert Chi and a service ace from Stanley Martinez. Lehman would once again pull within two points at 23-21, but it was too little, too late as Hunter took the next two to close out the first set.
Similar to the previous set, Hunter took an early lead and then watched the Lightning battle back to tie at 8-8. From that point on, though, the Hawks went on a 9-2 run to take a commanding 17-10 lead on their way to a relatively easy 25-14 win.
Facing an uphill climb, down two sets to none, the Lightning fought valiantly in the third, taking a 3-2 lead. The advantage for Lehman was its first of the match, but ultimately proved to be its last, as Hunter combined an overwhelming attack, some excellent receiving, and several Lehman errors to send the Lightning home earlier than it had hoped.
Playing in their final CUNYAC matches, seniors Nate Martin and R.J. LeBlanc combined for 12 kills and 10 digs, with LeBlanc also adding two service aces. Setter Miguel Gallardo recorded 20 assists in the loss.
Albert Chi led the way with 13 kills while Eric Barty chipped in with 11. Stanely Martinez recorded 43 assists in the win.
~Courtesy of CUNYAC
Championship Recap
The Hawks had a tough time playing on Baruch's level and never could not get any sort of momentum going from the start as they went down in straight sets (25-18, 25-18, 25-18) on Friday night at Arc Arena against arch rivals, Baruch College.
In each set, the Hawks would get no closer than 18 points as the Bearcats proved too strong to get by as they powered to the 25 point mark in each set on the strength of a .275 team hitting percentage. Hunter only managed 21 kills as a team, 13 coming from a combine effort of Otsla and Barty who were named to the All-Tournament team.
The Bearcats had Vincent Cruz and Steven Coniglio who recorded nine kills each while Pablow Oliveira and Eryk Kowalski had eight and seven kills respectively. Tournament MVP Jesus Echevarria recorded 31 assists.
The Hawks will resume action this Thursday, March 31 when they host the Chargers of New Haven at the Hunter Sporsplex at 6:00 pm.
