Urshela Smashes 500th Kill but Men's Volleyball Falls in Four to John Jay

NEW YORK, N.Y. -  The St. Joseph's (Brooklyn) men's volleyball team dropped their tenth match of the 2014 campaign with a loss to John Jay, 3-1 (25-23, 25-15, 22-25, 25-17) at the John Jay gym Monday night.

Raul Urshela (Orlando, Fla./Colonial) finished with 12 kills, while sophomore Taso Kostikas (Brooklyn, N.Y./Midwood) contributed with nine kills and had 14 digs in a losing effort. Iqbal Husain (West Palm Beach, Fla./Palm Beach Gardens) chipped in a team-high 25 assists.

John Jay (5-9) was led by Jack Palleschi, who smashed a season-high 32 kills in their victory. Nicholas Anderson added eight kills and 48 assists. Five different Bloodhounds had 10 or more digs as they secured their fifth win of the season.

The first set saw the Bears and Bloodhounds trade leads back and forth, but John Jay put the match away with a Palleschi kill. The teams were tied at 14-all in the second stanza when the Bloodhounds exploded with a 10-1 run to capture the set.

St. Joseph's notched a set win in the third frame, 25-22, fueled by five kills in the match by Urshela. In the final set of the night, the Bears jumped out to an early lead, but Palleschi compiled eight kills in the frame to close out the victory.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Against John Jay, the Bears hit .116 for the match finishing with 33 kills (33 K-19 E-30 A), while the Bloodhounds concluded the match with a .288 hitting percentage and 64 kils (64 K- 24 E- 62 A), including a .429 percentage in the second set.

THE BEAR FACTS

• Urshela's 12 kills against the Bloodhounds pushed him past 500 kills in his career, the first Bear to ever reach the plateau.

NEXT UP FOR THE BEARS – Brooklyn College

St. Joseph's will be home tomorrow night as they look for their fifth win on the season when they take on Brooklyn College (12-11) at Brooklyn Technical High School. First serve is at 7:30 p.m.