Bears Volleyball Comes Up Short Against Berkeley

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Despite a near double-double by Raul Urshela (Orlando, FL/Colonial), the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's volleyball team dropped a straight-set non-conference decision to Berkeley College (NJ), 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-23) on Friday evening at Brooklyn Technical High School.

St. Joseph's (3-10) loses their second consecutive match while Berkeley (8-4) has won four of their last five games.

The Bears were led by Urshela who put down seven kills while bringing up seven digs. Senior Martin Torres (Ozone Park, NY/St. Francis Prep) slammed down a team-high eight kills and finished the match with a team-high .400 hitting percentage. Junior Iqbal Husain (West Palm Beach, FL/Palm Beach Gardens) was the primary facilitator of the offense dishing out a team-high 18 assists with a career-high two kills. Freshman Norrin Martinez (Maspeth, NY/Holy Cross) helped anchor the defense with a career-high-tying seven digs.

The Knights were led by Keith Barrow who nearly recorded a double-double finishing with a game-high 19 kills and finished with eight digs. Berkeley also received contributions from Lucas Pucheta who pounded 12 kills while recording four service aces.

St. Joseph's opened the first set scoring the first point before Berkeley rallied and scored five answered to take a 5-1 lead. The Bears would get within one, 10-9, midway through the set but the Knights went on an 8-0 run giving them a commanding 18-9 advantage they would not surrender.

The second set was tightly contested with neither team gaining more than a two-point advantage until Berkeley went on a 6-1 spurt after the score was tied at 13-13 to take a 19-14 lead they would not relinquish.

The third set was the most contested of the night with neither team distancing themselves from the other. The Knights took an early 9-5 lead but the Bears fought back and evened the score at 15-15 midway through the set. St. Joseph's would build a 19-16 lead but Berkeley went on a 9-4 run to clinch the victory.

The Knights amassed 42 kills and had a .157 hitting percentage as a team while utilizing the serve to their advantage finishing with 11 service aces.

The Bears had trouble finding their groove offensively combining for 21 kills and 18 attack errors finishing with a .038 hitting percentage with their best performance coming in the hard fought third set when they hit .172.

St. Joseph's looks to bounce back when they return to action on Tuesday, March 26th as they travel to Manhattan to take on John Jay College with first serve slated for 6 p.m.