Cardinal Attack Too Strong For Bears Volleyball in Straight-Set Loss

JAMAICA, N.Y. – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's volleyball team fell victim to an aggressive York attack en route to a three-set defeat (25-11, 25-9, 25-11) on Tuesday night. The Bears experienced their fourth straight loss of the season, dropping their record to 3-12. 

Bears setter Iqbal Husain (West Palm Beach, FL/Palm Beach Gardens) managed to register eight assists in defeat as St. Joseph's now falls to 0-4 all time against the Cardinals.  York has won five of their last six matches and is now 22-12 on the season. Sophmore Raul Urshela (Orlando,Fl/Colonial) tallied five kills and six digs in the defeat but the Bears struggled to make the most of their attacks tonight posting a -.175 attack percentage.

The Cardinals jumped out to an early 9-2 lead in game one, led by outside hitter Leszek Stankiewicz who was affective all night as he racked up double digit kills, six of which came in the first set. Also helping to pace the Cardinal attack was Maximo Bonilla who smashed nine kills on 17 total attacks. Bonilla's lone service ace of the match capped off a 25-11 game one victory for York.

In game two, the Bears managed to force a few York errors early leading to a 4-4 tie, however, a combination of kills and services aces led to a six-point run for the Cardinals who pulled away and did not look back on their way to a lopsided 25-9 win. 

In the final set of the night the Bears got off to a rough start trailing 17-5 and were doomed by several attack errors. Urshela picked up two stellar blocks in this third set but the overpowering York team cruised to the decisive victory 25-11 to close the night.

St. Joseph's will be in action again tomorrow, Wednesday, April 3rd, returning to Brooklyn Technical High School for the final home game of the season and celebrating Senior Night honoring Martin Torres (Ozone Park, NY/St. Francis Prep). The Bears will host Cooper Union with first serve slated for 7:30 p.m.