Men’s Volleyball Edged by Brooklyn in Five-Set Heartbreaker

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Freshman Arian Durovic (Woodside, N.Y. / St. John's Prep) put away a match-high-tying 15 kills in his collegiate debut and the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's volleyball team rallied to force a fifth-and-deciding set against their borough rivals Brooklyn College, but came up on the wrong end of a 3-2 (25-16, 23-25, 25-23, 22-25, 22-20) non-conference decision on Tuesday evening at home. 

The back-and-forth match featured 39 ties and 19 lead changes and the Bears (0-2) had six match points in the deciding frame before the Bulldogs (3-1) won the final three points of the match to rally to the claim the Kings County battle. 

How it Happened

The visitors never trailed in the opening set and pulled away with an 8-3 run that built a 16-11 cushion. The Bulldogs hit .478 with no errors in the set for the 25-16 victory.

Brooklyn led by as many as four in the second stanza before St. Joseph's drew level at 17-all and the set featured seven more ties before the Bears evened the match as Dejon St. Rose-Cuffy's (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Loughlin) sealed a 25-23 win, with the navy and gray winning the last three points.

The Bears used a 7-2 run late in the third to erase a deficit that grew to as many as five, but the Bulldogs closed out the set on a 5-1 run to win 25-23 and move ahead 2-1.  

Neither squad led by more than three points in a tightly contested fourth set. Still tied at 20-20, SJC won four straight points powered by a pair of kills from Durovic and a block from Kristopher Parbs-Slawson (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) and the Bears forced a fifth set, 25-22.

St. Joseph's took control of the deciding frame from the outset building an early 3-1 lead and doubling up Brooklyn at the side change, 8-4. The Bears maintained their cushion and a Bulldog service error brought three match points, 14-11. Brooklyn won the next four points to take their first lead in the set and the Bears fought off three match points to draw even at 17-all. 

Multiple long tenuous rallies ensued with both teams battling to keep the points alive. The Bears had three more opportunities to win the match at 18-17, 19-18 and 20-19, before Jasper Diangco had back-to-back kills to close out the win for the Bulldogs.

Post-Game Interviews

For the Bears

• Durovic hit .128 and finished with 15 kills and three blocks (three solo) to pace the attack.
• Senior Stephen Eddy (Glendale, N.Y./Christ the King) put away 11 kills and had 20 digs.
• St. Rose-Cuffy had seven kills and three blocks (all solo).
• Rookie Ramizjon Khudoyorov (Brooklyn, N.Y./Edward R. Murrow) led the defense with 30 digs and chipped in three kills.
• Libero Rogers Hatanga Kwiringira (Corona, N.Y./Greater New York Academy) rounded out three Bears with 20-plus digs bringing up 24.
• Parbs-Slawson also had three blocks (all solo) and served up a pair of aces.

Next Up

The Bears return to the home floor on Friday, February 7 to host Clinton Hill rivals Pratt Institute in a non-conference match starting at 7 p.m. Live stats and video are available at SJCBears.com/live.