Men’s Volleyball Weathers Sarah Lawrence Comeback in Five-Set Victory

BRONXVILLE, N.Y. — Although the St. Joseph's University, N.Y. (Brooklyn) men's volleyball took the opening set from Sarah Lawrence College on Tuesday evening, the hosts took the following two stanzas. However, half of Alex Helfant's (Quito, Ecuador/Alliance Academy International) 20 kills came in the final two sets to propel the Bears to a 3-2 victory (25-23, 24-26, 19-25, 25-23, 15-12).

How it Happened

An even first set saw 17 ties, seven lead changes, and neither side amassing a scoring run of more than three points. A string of errors towards the end of the set gave SJBK the 25-23 edge. Helfant and Frank Tello (Quito, Ecuador/Alliance Academy International) combined for five kills in the set.

Down 3-0, a 7-1 run brought the Bears to a 7-4 advantage before the Gryphons used a five-point swing to retake the lead, 9-7. From there, the sides alternated ties and lead changes for much of the frame. With the Bears holding set point, 24-23, Sarah Lawrence racked up three straight points, on the other side of their lone timeout of the period, to win 26-24 and tie the match at one.

The hosts took full control of the third stanza with senior Felix Massey leading the Gryphons' attack en route to a 25-19 set victory.

Another back-and-forth set saw the Bears use a 6-0 run, trailing 19-15, to take the lead at 21-19. Helfant had five kills in the set, including the final point, 25-23, to force a fifth set.

The Bears raced out to the fifth-set win, weathering a late comeback by the Gryphons. The Helfant-Tello tandem slammed eight kills and Lordnel Saint-Jean (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) served up an ace in the period to guide the navy and gray to a 15-12 and 3-2 match result.

For the Bears

• Helfant brought up 27 digs in addition to his 20 kills.

• Frank Arevalo (Astoria, N.Y./Gramercy Arts) brought up a season-high 21 kills to go with three kills and two service aces.

• Libero Leonel Bravo (Astoria, N.Y./Queens Vocational & Technical) had 20 digs.

• Tello had 13 digs and was a kill shy of back-to-back double-doubles. He also had two blocks on the night.

• Alejandro Oliveros (Brooklyn, N.Y./Grover Cleveland) rounded out the five Bears with double-figure digs with 11 along with 28 assists.

Up Next

The Bears face sibling rivals St. Joseph's (Long Island) in the first of back-to-back contests on Thursday, March 23 at 7 p.m. Live stats and video will be available on sjbkathletics.com/live.