Men's Volleyball Wins Third Straight, Grounding Hawks in Straight Sets

BROOKLYN, N.Y.—The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's volleyball team slammed 29 kills and rolled past Cooper Union in straight sets, 3-0 (25-9, 25-13, 25-9), to win their third straight game on Thursday night at The Hill Center.

The Bears (4-2) move two games above .500 for the first time in program history with the triumph and win their second straight match over the Hawks (0-2) in the all-time series.

Senior Raul Urshela (Orlando, Fla./Colonial) had a strong effort returning from a game missed due to injury and pounded a match-high 17 kills—more than the visitors combined (13)—hitting .394 for the match. Junior Taso Kostikas (Brooklyn, N.Y./Midwood) added six kills and six digs, while junior Thomas Kennedy (Breezy Point, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) chipped in five kills, along with four aces and a match-high-tying 10 digs.

Fresh off his record-setting 13 ace effort yesterday which moved him into the Division III lead for aces per set, junior Norrin Martinez (Maspeth, N.Y./Holy Cross) served up eight more service aces and dished out 26 assists to direct the attack that hit a season-best .296. As a team, the Bears landed 17 aces, padding their team lead atop Division III.

Cooper Union was led by Sun Eui Kim who put down three kills and shared match-high honors with Kennedy with 10 digs.

The Hawks took an early 3-1 lead in the opening set, but a Bears 14-1 run off Kennedy's service helped distance the hosts for good as they never trailed for the remainder of the match.

St. Joseph's built early 5-0 leads in both the second and third sets and never looked back to seal the victory and improve to 4-1 in the new Hill Center.

The Bears wrap up a four-game home stand on Monday, February 23 hosting John Jay College with first serve scheduled for 7 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at SJCBears.com.