Men’s Volleyball Outlasts Medgar Evers to Pick Up First Win

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Thomas Ambrosino (Staten Island, N.Y./New Dorp) pounded a career-high nine kills as six different Bears combined for a season-high 34 kills to power the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's volleyball team to a five-set victory over borough rivals Medgar Evers College on Thursday night.

The Basics

• Final Score: St. Joseph's def. Medgar Evers, 3-2
• Set Scores: 25-22, 25-12, 29-31, ?-25, 15-3
• Records: St. Joseph's (1-10), Medgar Evers (0-4)
• Location: Brooklyn, N.Y.
• Arena: Cougars Cave
• Full box score unavailable at this time.

How It Happened

• St. Joseph's fell behind by a sizeable margin in the first before rallying to scoop up the set 25-22 and continued to take the second stanza in a convincing fashion, 25-12.
• Momentum started to swing in Medgar's favor in a hard-fought third set. The Bears rallied from behind to gain several changes to close out the match in straight sets and after fighting off several set points, fell 31-29 in a marathon frame.
• The Cougars leveled the match taking the fourth set as well, before the Bears dominated the fifth-and-deciding set, hitting .400 in the frame (4-0-10) and ran away with a 15-3 stanza to clinch their first win of the season, snapping a 10-game skid.

For the Bears

• Thomas Ambrosino paced the attack with career highs of nine kills and three aces, also bringing up a team-high 14 digs along with a block assist.
• Alec Smalley landed seven kills and also served up three aces. He aided the defense with 12 digs and a block.
• Three rookies slammed season-high kills with McNeilsen Saint-Jean and Andre Williams landing six each and hitting at a combined .286 and Angelo Goutzinopolous contributing five kills. Saint-Jean and Williams also combined for five aces and each had a block.
• Sophomore setter Mark Antoun dished out 27 assists to pace the Bears and dominated from the service line with nine aces, both season highs.
• Marek Mlynarski finished with 13 digs, rounding out three Bears with double-digit digs.
• First-year head coach Mark Ledwich picks up his first collegiate victory.

Next Up for the Bears

• Riding their first win of the season, the Bears will return to action on Saturday, February 18th for a tri-match hosted by York College. After facing the host Cardinals at 11 a.m., St. Joseph's will square off with Southern Virginia University.