Men's Volleyball Gameday: Bears at HVIAC Tournament

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – St. Joseph's (7-11) competes in season-ending HVIAC Tournament on Thursday, April 10th at Yeshiva University, looking for first title in school history. The No. 2 seed Bears will take on No. 3 seed Webb Institute at 6 p.m. with the winner facing the winner of the match between No. 1 seed Yeshiva University and No. 4 seed Sarah Lawrence College in the championship game at 8 p.m.

Game Information

2014 Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Men's Volleyball Championships
Thursday, April 10th • Semifinals 6 p.m., Championship 8 p.m.
Max Stern Athletic Center • Yeshiva University • New York, N.Y.

Semifinals
No. 2 St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) (7-11, 4-2 HVIAC) vs. No. 3 Webb Institute (3-7, 2-4 HVIAC)
No. 1 Yeshiva University (8-17, 6-0 HVIAC) vs. Sarah Lawrence College (0-24, 0-6 HVIAC)

Championship

St. Joseph's/Webb winner vs. Yeshiva/Sarah Lawrence winner

Storylines

• St. Joseph's has its sights on their first conference tournament title in school history.
• With a win against Webb, the Bears would set a school record for wins in a season, surpassing the record of seven set last year.
• St. Joseph's looks to make an appearance in the championship game for the first time ever.
• The Bears try to improve to 3-0 on the season against the Webbies and look for their first ever win against the Maccabees in a possible title game showdown.
• With a pair of wins, St. Joseph's would have its longest winning streak in school history at five matches.
• Yeshiva looks to win its second title in a row and third overall.
• Four-time HVIAC Player of the Week Raul Urshela looks to continue his strong play, recording double-digit kills in six of the last seven matches.

Series History

vs. Webb: The Webbies hold a 7-6 lead in the all-time series, but the Bears have won the last six meetings, including a pair of wins this season.

vs. Yeshiva: The Bears are 0-13 all-time against the Maccabees, including a pair of four-set losses this year.

vs. Sarah Lawrence: St. Joseph's maintains a 5-2 edge in the all-time series, having won both meetings this season.

The Bear Facts

Last Time Out: Led by double-doubles from junior Raul Urshela, sophomore Taso Kostikas and senior Iqbal Husain, St. Joseph's overcame a two-set deficit in their regular season finale to defeat Webb Institute, 3-2 (21-25, 20-25, 25-18, 25-13, 17-15) in HVIAC action on Tuesday evening at the Alumni Gymnasium.

St. Joseph's tries to set a school record for wins in a season with a triumph over Webb in the semifinals and look for their first championship game appearance in school history. The Bears look to extend their season-high three game winning streak with a pair of wins in the tournament.

Four-time HVIAC Player of the Week Raul Urshela continues to be an offensive force for St. Joseph's, leading the team with 211 kills (No. 2 in HVIAC) and 3.35 kills per set (No. 1 in HVIAC). The 211 kills are a school record, surpassing the 208 he slammed down a year ago. The junior has three double-doubles on the year and paces the Bears with 0.56 blocks per set (No. 4 in HVIAC).

Facilitating the offense is senior setter Iqbal Husain who has 350 assists on the year and averages 5.56 assists per set (No. 2 in HVIAC). Husain also is tied with Urshela for second on the team with 100 digs and has ten blocks on the year.

Sophomore Taso Kostikas provides more offensive firepower for St. Joseph's with 92 kills and leads the team with 3.08 digs (No. 1 in HVIAC) and 0.46 service aces per set (No. 1 in HVIAC). Junior Clyde Delacruz has come into his own, putting down a career-high 15 kills his last time out at Webb and leads the team with 0.62 blocks per set (No. 1 in HVIAC).

Webbies Watch

Last Time Out: Webb dropped a five-set heartbreaker to St. Joseph's on Tuesday evening in their regular season finale.

The Webbies are also in search of their first appearance in the championship game and come into today's tournament with the same amount of wins this season than the last three years combined. Webb is an efficient team, leading the conference with a .130 hitting percentage and 1.81 aces per set.

Leading the Webbies is one-time HVIAC Player of the Week Cody Owen who averages 1.50 kills per set and dishes out a team-high 2.88 assists per set (No. 3 in HVIAC), while bringing up a team-high 1.44 digs per set.

Sophomore Brian Mills paces the team with 2.28 kills per set (No. 5 in HVIAC), hits an efficient .265 (No. 1 in HVIAC) and leads the team with 0.56 blocks per set (No. 5 in HVIAC).

The Mac Attack

Last Time Out: Yeshiva fell in straight sets to Ramapo College on Tuesday, April 8th in their regular season finale.

Yeshiva looks to win its second consecutive title and third overall as they come in on a 14-match winning streak in HVIAC play. The Maccabees lead the league in several categories, including kills per set (8.21), assists per set (7.61) and digs per set (11.20).

One-time HVIAC Player of the Week Menachem Goldstein paces the Yeshiva offensive attack with 2.68 kills per set (No. 3 in HVIAC) and 150 kills (No. 4 in HVIAC) on the season. He hits an efficient .176, good for second in the HVIAC.Â

Yeshiva also gets contributions from Adam Rhodes, who leads the team with 546 assists and 7.28 assists per set (No. 1 in HVIAC), while one-time Player of the Week Jared Rechnitz leads the team with 190 kills.

Welcome to Gryphondor

Last Time Out: The Gryphons suffered a straight-set setback to St. Joseph's on Thursday, April 3rd.

The Gryphons are looking for their first win of the 2014 season, losing 24 consecutive matches and six in HVIAC play.

Pacing Sarah Lawrence on both sides of the ball is Ishaan Pujari, who tops the Gryphons in both kills (221) and digs (162) during this season. Pujari averages 2.87 kills per set, and 2.10 digs per set. Helping setting up the offense is Brent Terry, who averages 2.07 assists per set for the team.

Team Comparison

Bears	Nickname	Webbies	Maccabees	Gryphons
7-11 (4-2)	Record	3-7 (2-4)	8-17 (6-0)	0-24 (0-6)
HVIAC	Conference	HVIAC	HVIAC	HVIAC
Roster | Schedule | Statistics	Team Info	Roster | Schedule | Statistics	Roster | Schedule | Statistics	Roster | Schedule | Statistics
Raul Urshela (211)	Top Kills	Brian Mills (73)	Jared Rechnitz (192)	Ishaan Pujari (221)
Taso Kotiskas (194)	Top Digs	Cody Owen (46)	Jared Rechnitz (181)	Ishaan Pujari (162)
Iqbal Husain (350)	Top Assists	Cody Owen (92)	Adam Rhodes (555)	Nikos Efstratudakis (161)
7.43	Kills	7.25	8.02	4.96
.066	Attack %	.130	.079	-.007
6.33	Assists	5.78	7.45	4.45
1.75	Service Aces	1.81	1.33	1.10
140	Reception Errors	79	180	374
10.27	Digs	6.47	11.05	6.54
1.30	Blocks	1.09	1.42	0.51