Bloodhounds Baffle Bears Volleyball in Straight-Set Loss at John Jay

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Senior Martin Torres (Ozone Park, NY/St. Francis Prep) put away double digit kills in a losing effort as the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's volleyball team dropped a straight-set, non-conference, road decision to John Jay College (25-20, 25-19, 25-14) on Tuesday evening at the Doghouse.

The Bears (3-11) suffered their third straight loss while the Bloodhounds (7-8) moved in the opposite direction capturing their third straight win and six-of-last-seven.

Torres slammed a team-high 11 kills in defeat to lead the offense. Named HVMAC Player of the Week earlier in the day, sophomore Raul Urshela (Orlando, FL/Colonial) contributed six kills and Rookie of the Week Taso Kostikas (Brooklyn, NY/Midwood) led the defense with a match-high-tying nine digs, adding three kills. Iqbal Husain (West Palm Beach, FL/Palm Beach Gardens) directed the attack with 18 assists.

The Bloodhounds were paced by Jack Palleschi who posted 13 kills and Frankie Galang who handed out 25 assists and flirted with a triple-double with nine digs and seven service aces.

Despite five kills from Torres in the opening frame, John Jay captured the first set after scoring six-straight points at the 14-13 mark to pull away from the Bears.

The Bears threatened to level the match in a tightly contested second stanza that featured 11 ties and seven lead changes, but after the Bears pulled to within 19-18, the hosts won six of the final seven points to close the set.

John Jay held St. Joseph's to only four kills in the final set and Galang served four aces during a 6-0 run that gave the Bloodhounds a 15-8 cushion.

St. Joseph's has a week off for the Easter Break and will return to the court on Tuesday, April 2, facing a second-straight CUNYAC foe York College in a road match starting at 8 p.m.