Urshela Sets Three New Records as Men's Volleyball Outlasts Pratt in Five for First Place in HVIAC

BROOKLYN, N.Y.—Led by a program-record-tying 24 kills from Raul Urshela (Orlando, Fla./Colonial), the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's volleyball team jumped out to a two-set lead before defeating Pratt in five sets for a 3-2, (26-24, 25-20, 22-25, 24-26, 15-12) in Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action at the Pratt ARC on Thursday night.

The Bears (6-3, 1-0 HVIAC) take over first place early in league play with only one other game played to date, Pratt (3-2, 1-1 HVIAC) defeating defending league champion Yeshiva (1-8, 0-1 HVIAC) in four sets. The Cannoneers will return to The Hill Center in four weeks on Thursday, March 26 to complete the home-and-home season series.

In addition to tying his own single-game kills record, Urshela set new Bears single game records in total blocks (9), solo blocks (7) and points (33.0). The senior hit committed only four errors against 55 swings for an efficient .364 hitting and brought up 22 digs for his first double-double of the season.

Urshela led three Bears recording double-doubles as junior Taso Kostikas (Brooklyn, N.Y./Midwood) slammed 10 kills with 24 digs and four aces and junior Norrin Martinez (Maspeth, N.Y./Holy Cross) dished out a career-high 35 kills with 12 digs. Junior Thomas Kennedy (Breezy Point, N.Y./Holy Cross) fell one dig shy of a double-double with 11 kills and nine digs.

In a battle of the top two attackers in the league, the Cannoneers were led by David Cutler who slammed 26 kills paired with 24 digs for a double-double. Alex Arsovski chipped in nine kills and Chris Fantin handed out 21 assists with 14 digs.

The Bears took an early lead in a highly contested opening set that saw 13 ties and six lead changes. Pratt held two set points at 24-22, that the Bears fought off after a pair of Cannoneer miscues with a third straight error giving the Bears their first chance at the set. St. Joseph's was opportunistic as Kostikas slammed his third kill of the set for the 26-24 win.

The second stanza had both teams neck and neck until 19-all, but closed the set on a 6-1 run on the Martinez serve and Urshela pounded nine kills—with no errors in the frame—including two of the final three points for a 25-20 to give the Bears a commanding two-set lead.

As in the first two sets, the third was closely contested. St. Joseph's used a 4-0 run to build a 19-15 lead, the largest separation of the frame, only to watch the hosts draw even at 21-all and four of the last five points, to take the set, punctuated by a Connan Moody solo block.

Still reeling from the third set loss, the Bears allowed the Cannoneers to race out to a 11-4 lead and it appeared they would run away with the fourth set, later building a 20-12 cushion prompting a St. Joseph's timeout. That timeout sparked a Bears comeback, started by kills from Urshela and Kostikas that launched a 8-2 run to pull within two, 22-20. Pratt would earn three set points that the Bears would fight off on back-to-back solo rejections from Urshela, knotting the set at 24-all. But the Bears couldn't complete the comeback as Cutler slammed his 22nd kill of the match for another set point, which the Cannoneers converted on a Bears miscue.

With the match on the line in the fifth and deciding set, the tension affected both teams as both squads were hampered by errors and produced the first negative hitting set of the match. St. Joseph's gained an early lead in the frame, but the set remained tied at 7-all, 8-all and 9-all. Back-to-back errors by the Cannoneers gave the Bears an 11-9 lead and then Urshela stuffed back-to-back blocks on Arsovski and Cutler to extend the run to four. Another error by the hosts gave the Bears five match points. Pratt would fend off three on a pair of Cutler kills that gave him match-high honors before Urshela stuffed Cutler again to seal the victory and set the blocks record.

St. Joseph's has a week and a half off to recover for another extended home stand, welcoming the College of Staten Island to The Hill Center on Monday, March 9th, looking to reverse a straight set defeat in Staten Island just three weeks ago. First serve is set for 7 p.m. with live stats and video on SJCBears.com