Women's Volleyball Falls in Four Sets to Rivals St. Joseph's (L.I.)

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Despite a near double-double from both sophomore Lauren GaNun (Breezy Point, N.Y./Fontbonne Hall) and senior Megan Moran (Syosset, N.Y./St. Dominic's), the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's volleyball team dropped a 3-1 decision (25-17, 25-19, 16-25, 25-10) to sibling rivals St. Joseph's College (L.I.) in their home opener on Wednesday evening at Brooklyn Technical High School.

The Lady Bears fall to 1-1 while St. Joseph's (L.I.) improves to 6-6, snapping a two-match losing streak.

GaNun put down a match-high 14 kills against only four errors for an efficient .312 hitting percentage. The sophomore also had two blocks and nine digs, falling one shy of the double-double.  Moran also helped lead the Lady Bears attack slamming down 10 kills while bringing up nine digs.

Sophomore Anna Carbone (Ozone Park, N.Y./Mary Louis) and junior Jennifer Moncino (Ridgewood, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) helped lead St. Joseph's on the defensive end with each recording a match-high 18 digs.  Senior Sabrina Cornia (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller) helped coordinate the Lady Bears attack dishing out 23 assists on the night.

The Golden Eagles were led offensively by Heather Ferchland who concluded the evening putting down a team-high 10 kills hitting an efficient .318. Julianne Tierney controlled the offense with 24 assists.

Long Island jumped out to an early 6-1 lead in the opening stanza and would take a commanding 23-13 advantage late in the set but a mini 4-0 spurt by Brooklyn closed the gap to 23-17 led by a pair of GaNun kills forcing a Golden Eagles timeout. Long Island regrouped and would take the next two points to finish off the set.

The second set was a repeat of the opening set as the Golden Eagles took a 6-1 lead early in the set and would take a 22-12 lead toward the end of the set before the Lady Bears would go on a 6-2 run helped by three kills from GaNun cutting the deficit to 24-18 and forcing another Long Island timeout. Moncino would cut the deficit to 24-19 immediately after the stoppage but the Golden Eagles finished off the set after Brooklyn committed a ball handling error.

The third set saw the Lady Bears gain early momentum and would not look back as they led from start to finish. Brooklyn jumped out to an early 4-3 lead before going on a 7-1 spurt that gave them a 10-4 lead helped by five kills from Moran. The Golden Eagles trimmed the deficit to 14-9 midway through the set but the Lady Bears followed that up by winning the next four points giving themselves an 18-9 lead and Long Island would not threaten again in the set.

The final stanza saw a close beginning to the set as the teams were tied at 4-4 in the early going but the Golden Eagles scored five unanswered  giving them a  9-4 lead and would dominate the rest of the set finishing on a 16-6 run to close out the match.

The Lady Bears return to action this Saturday, September 21st as they host a tri-match at Brooklyn Technical High School. St. Joseph's opens with the first match of the day against Merchant Marine at 1 p.m. before taking on Mount Saint Vincent at 5 p.m.