Lehman Spoils Women's Volleyball Senior Night Rallying in Five

BROOKLYN, N.Y.—Despite the sixth 20-kill game from Lauren GaNun (Breezy Point, N.Y./Fontbonne Hall) and six kills and 14 digs from senior Jennifer Moncino (Ridgewood, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy), the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's volleyball team couldn't hold off Lehman College on Senior Night, falling in five sets, 3-2 (22-25, 17-25, 25-19, 25-18, 15-11).

GaNun, the reigning Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Week, paired her match-high 21 kills with a career-best eight blocks (five solo, three assisted) and nine digs to flirt with a triple-double.

Moncino's six kills were second best and she was one of three to finish with double digit digs, led by fellow senior Chanell Joseph's (Bronx, N.Y./St. Jean Baptiste) 15 digs. Junior Anna Carbone (Ozone Park, N.Y./Mary Louis) directed the offense and recorded her fourth double-double of the season with 21 assists and 13 digs.

Cari English paced the Lightning (11-11) with a 20-kill, 10-dig double-double while Julia Mercado contributed a 13-kill, 14-dig double-double.

The Lady Bears (7-11) jumped out to a two set to none lead, using a late run to take the opening set and pulling away early and finishing strong in the second—hitting a match-best .429 with no errors in the stanza.

St. Joseph's appeared to be able to close out the match in three before the Lightning started to find their rhythm and after a slow start in the third pulled away from the Lady Bears and never trailed again in the match.

Lehman started off the fourth and fifth sets with quick runs—opening 4-0 in the fourth and 7-0 in the fifth—making St. Joseph's play catch-up. The Lady Bears did rally in the final frame and back-to-back aces from Moncino helped power a 6-0 run that cut their opening deficit to one, but the Lady Bears could never bottle the Lightning, managing just two kills in the frame, while Lehman hit their match-best .250 committing just one error to steal the victory from the Lady Bears and snapping their season-long three-game winning streak.

St. Joseph's will close out their regular season on Friday for one final tune-up before the season-ending HVIAC Tournament on Sunday. The Lady Bears will face former HVIAC and future Skyline Conference rivals Sarah Lawrence College in a road match starting at 7 p.m. in Bronxville, N.Y.