New York, NY - The #1 men's volleyball team hosted the #4 Bloodhounds of John Jay College earlier this evening in the semi-final round of the CUNYAC Championship Tournament. With scores of 25-20, 25-21, 21-25 and 25-21, the Hawks (12-6, 11-1 CUNYAC) defeated their opponents and will advance to play for a championship tomorrow.

Sherrod Cole and David Lou led the attack with nine kills apiece while Chris Scandole and Niro Osbourne had a nearly even split of 15 total kills. Scandole, the recently tabbed league Libero of the Year, also added four aces and six digs in the win while Nick Yao posted a game high 12 digs. Cooper Moran narrowly registered a game high of 33 assists in the win.

Early in the first, the Purple and Gold strung together eight unanswered points that ultimately proved to be the difference maker. They built on a 10-5 lead and turned it into a nine point advantage at 18-10. The Bloodhounds (10-12, 7-5 CUNYAC) were able to chop away and pull within three at 21-18 but a kill from Cole to end the match gave his team the 1-0 lead. 

With Hunter trailing late at 18-17, a service miscue from John Jay's Stephen Daly, coupled with two Scandole aces and a kill from Lou, gave the squad a three point edge. Once again, it was Cole who hammered home the final kill of the set to make it a 2-0 affair.

Facing elimination, John Jay dug down and put together a late 4-0 run to go ahead 18-12. Hunter pulled within one but still trailed late but this time, they were unable to close it out as the #4 seed managed to steal the set, 25-21 to force a fourth.

In yet another tightly contested set, the scoreboard showed Hunter ahead by one at the 22-21 mark. Osborne earned a kill which was followed up by a John Jay attack error to set the stage for match point. As he did in the previous two winning sets, Cole hammered home the final point of the night to push the Hawks through to the final round.

CUNYAC Coach of the Year, Chris Schortgen, and the rest of the Hawks will square off against #2 seeded Baruch College for the CUNYAC Championship tomorrow, April 8th, as they chase their 18th title in program history. First serve is slated for a 6:30pm start and will be played at Baruch. The last five conference championship finals matches have featured Hunter versus Baruch. The Bearcats won in both 2015 and 2019 while the Hawks won three consecutive championships from 2016-2018.