Bears Volleyball Sweeps Tri-Match in D.C., Winning Streak at Three

TAKOMA PARK, M.D. – Powered by a double-double from both senior Martin Torres (Ozone Park, NY/St. Francis Prep) and sophomore Raul Urshela (Orlando, FL/Colonial), the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's volleyball team took both ends of a tri-match defeating Gallaudet in straight sets, 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 27-25) before finishing the day off with a five-set victory against host Washington Adventist 3-2 (16-25, 25-23, 25-22, 21-25, 15-12) on Sunday afternoon.

The Bears (6-13) have now tied the single-season record for wins in school history set last season and are currently riding a school-record three match winning streak.  Washington Adventist (4-11) defeated Gallaudet (1-20) in the other match, 3-1.

In the opener against the Bison, St. Joseph's was led by Urshela who nearly picked up his second consecutive double-double finishing with nine kills while bringing up 12 digs. Torres slammed seven kills and had eight digs with three blocks. Freshman Taso Kostikas (Brooklyn, NY/Midwood) helped anchor the defense with his team-high 13 digs while junior Iqbal Husain (West Palm Beach, FL/Palm Beach Gardens) was the facilitator of the offense dishing out 20 assists.

In the second match versus the Shock, the Bears were led again by the duo of Urshela and Torres as they both recorded double-doubles. Urshela put down ten kills while accumulating a career-high 20 digs along with a new St. Joseph's single-game record with nine blocks (6 solo, 3 assisted) for his second double-double of the year. Torres finished the match with a team-high 11 kills and helped support the defense with his 14 digs while Husain accumulated 30 assists.

The three sets in the first match against Gallaudet were tightly contested with the third and final set having to go to a tiebreaker in order for the Bears to seal the victory.

 In the nightcap, the Bears got off to a slow start dropping the first set to the hosts before winning the next two. Washington Adventist took the fourth set to force one more and St. Joseph's was able to finish off the Shock in the fifth completing the sweep.

The Bears look to build on their school-record winning streak when they travel to borough-rival Medgar Evers tomorrow with first serve set for 7 p.m.