March 7, 2024
Spring breaks are starting to roll in and are reflected in the schedules of some teams who block off the school downtime. Despite that fact, we had a healthy amount of games for a Thursday night. We will try to get to as many as possible…
Hunter hosted Lehman tonight at the Sportsplex and the Hawks were victorious 3-0. Hunter is one of those teams that has a very solid core of players that have yet to really gel and show off their capabilities. Cooper Moran logged 23 assists and spread the offense very evenly between the Hawk’s 5 attackers. Annes Deljanin was the most efficient attacker hitting .727 with 8 kills and no attack errors. He had 3 of the 9 aces recorded for the Hawks and also jammed a team leading 7 blocks. Kyle Foley also posted 8 kills while Muhammad Al-Amine Mbaye and Mattisse Lee-Marek added 6 kills each. Hunter returned to a winning record and stands at 7-6 before they travel to Rutgers on Friday to face the Raiders and then face Baruch on Tuesday. Lehman fell to 7-9.
Old Westbury picked up the first win in their program history this past weekend but could not keep the streak going tonight as they fell to Manhattanville in straight sets. Old Westbury picked up the pace on their attack, but the Valiants had one of their best dig performances of the season with several players in double digits. Emil Morban Medrano and Jake Rothluebbers combined for 21 kills to lead the Valiants. Joe Gandarillas had 28 assists, 4 aces, 8 digs, a block and a kill in a well-rounded performance.
The home field advantage may have been the difference tonight as Brooklyn College edged CCNY in three tight sets. David Lema posted 33 assists and Jiaian Flanders had 9 kills and hit .389. Aaron Siu also had a great night posting 11 digs, a block, and 7 kills while hitting .286. CCNY lost set 2 by a 26-24 margin and were in every set before BC pulled ahead.
David Heyliger and Alex Ramirez combined for 32 kills as York wins their first match of the season and first win since the 2020 season. It was the first win for Head Coach Anthony Reyes in his second season at the helm of the Cardinals. Medgar Evers jumped out quickly in set one and never looked back as they coasted to 25-19 set win. But the rest of the night belonged to the Cardinals as they left no doubt which was the best team tonight, sweeping sets 2 through 4. The Cards head home to take on John Jay on 3/12 with the Bloodhounds having a solid season at 10-5 overall and 4-2 in the CUNYAC.
Baruch is red hot and has now won 7 games in a row after taking down John Jay tonight in straight sets. The Bearcats find themselves undefeated in the CUNYAC at 5-0 as they prepare for their biggest match of the season when they travel uptown to take on rival Hunter College on Tuesday. Tonight saw Ryan Oommen tally 33 assists while Peter Gavroff notched 11 kills and 2 aces. Ari Osmanaj had a career best 10 kills for the Bearcats.
NJCU has appeared to get back on track with their season after a very rough start. After losing 7 of their first 8 games of the season, the Gothic Knights have improved to 8-8 and boast a 5-0 conference record in the Skyline along with a 5-game win streak. Mount Saint Vincent did not match well against NJCU tonight, dropping all three sets and being outscored 75-38. NJCU hit .370 overall for the match. Marcus Paradasie had 9 kills, James Bajor had 5 aces, and Amaru Perales added 6 blocks. March 13th will be the big night for the Gothic Knights when they take on St. Joe’s LI in Patchogue.
Impressive showing by St. Joseph’s Long Island tonight as they sweep Sarah Lawrence. We were curious to watch all-world outside Nate Davis against one of the top defenses in the country of the Golden Eagles. SJLI scored a 1-0 win over Davis who was held to just 8 kills and hit .000 for the match. SL only had one other kill on the night. The Eagles got the entire roster involved in the match and were led by Umberto Piscitelli’s 10 kills, Adam Bender’s 4 aces, and 14 assists from CJ Johnson.
Tyler Ryan slammed 20 kills, hit .515, and lifted 9 digs to lead Purchase past St. Joe’s Brooklyn, 3-0. Channing Williams added 12 kills and Aidan Araza had 22 assists for the winners. Purchase hit over .350 for the match.
What a tough night for Rivier. They faced two very tough opponents tonight and dropped both matches. Marymount has been one of those teams that has played a sound but lighter schedule and had very solid results especially in the early season. This has caused the community to draw the conclusion that they may not be top 10 quality, which remains to be seen. Loras and SVU are in this category as well. Tonight, Marymount disposed of Rivier in 4 sets despite a really nice performance by Ryan Peace. Marymount had three attackers with double-digit kills (Pogue, Wright, and Jauregui) and an onslaught of blocks from multiple players as well (Jauregui, Moore, Pena, and Pogue). Marymount improved to 15-2 after dropping two matches last week to Stevens and Misericordia.
Rivier also faced Cal Lutheran tonight with much the same result. The Kingsmen dominated this match and held Rivier to a negative hit percentage in the last two sets. Jordan Cooper and Michael Stahl each had 12 kills and Taylor Marks had 26 assists. Taylor passed the 2,000-assist mark for his career this past week and is having another stellar season.
Cal Lutheran enjoyed another win against Baldwin Wallace at the Thousand Oaks tourney slated for all weekend. The Yellow Jackets came out strong, taking the first set 25-20, but The Kingsmen controlled the match the rest of way, especially in sets 3 and 4 with 25-15 and 25-11 scores. Middle big man Borys Horiuk had 11 kills and Ben Weber had 9 while Jordan Cooper once again led the Kingsmen with 14 kills for the match. Marks added 35 assists and 11 digs for the winners.
St. John Fisher picked up another win to improve to 20-2 as they tame UC Santa Cruz in straight sets. The Cardinals are the first team to record 20 wins this season. Gavin Newman posted 30 assists, 5 blocks, and 4 aces while Jake Baker led all Cardinal attackers with 11 kills. Riley Norman was fantastic for the Banana Slugs in a losing effort posting 13 kills, 11 digs, a block and an ace while hitting .500.
Players of the Night
Tonight, IH recognizes the York College Cardinals for bringing home their first win of the season. Hopefully a turning point for this team as they grow their program.
