Men’s Volleyball Plays Hard-Fought Match Against NJCU on Senior Night

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Junior Alec Smalley (Fresh Meadows, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) paced the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) attack with six kills as the Bears nearly pushed New Jersey City University to a fourth set, falling 3-0 on Tuesday evening in a Skyline Conference affair at the Hill Center.

The Bears celebrated their two seniors, Angelo Goutzinpoulos and Marek Mlynarski, playing in their final home games in a ceremony prior to the game.

The Basics

• Final Score: NJCU def. St. Joseph's, 3-0
• Set Scores: 25-11, 25-15, 25-23
• Records: NJCU (8-11, 2-2 Skyline) St. Joseph's (2-19, 0-3)
• Location: Brooklyn, N.Y.
• Arena: The Hill Center

How It Happened

• The Gothic Knights controlled the opening two sets before the Bears grinded out a third set that saw 10 ties and seven lead changes and neither team up by more than three for the entire frame.
• The Bears raced out to a 3-0 lead early in the set and led by three at the 12-9 mark. NJCU won four straight points to build their largest lead of the set at 23-20, just two points from victory, before an Alec Smalley kill sparked three straight to level the set at 23-all. But after a long rally and a Bears error gave the visitors match point, an Edgar Crespo kill closed out the match for the Knights.
• Alec Smalley led the Bears with six kills and as many digs. He put away four kills in the third set.
• Thomas Ambrosino finished with a pair of kills and had a team-best 10 digs.
• Playing his final game at home, senior Angelo Goutzinopoulos also chipped in two kills.
• Mark Antoun directed the offense with 10 assists, also serving up three aces and contributed four digs.
• Julian Moreira had 11 kills to lead six different Gothic Knights that combined for 38 kills and hit .206 in the match. Edgar Crespo had eight kills and 11 digs.

Next Up for the Bears

• The Bears will play their final six league games on the road returning to the court on Sunday, March 26 facing Yeshiva University and the Sage Colleges in a Skyline tri-match in Albany starting at 1 p.m. Live stats will be available on SJCBears.com.com