Women’s Volleyball Tames Lehman in First Victory of 2023 Slate

BRONX, N.Y. — The St. Joseph's University, N.Y. (Brooklyn) women's volleyball team earned their first win of the season, defeating Lehman College 3-0 (25-15, 25-9, 25-17) on Friday evening.

How it Happened

The Lightning's (1-5) 7-6 lead was shortlived as the Bears led by as many as nine later in the opening set, 21-12. Rachel Guerra (Kent Island, Md./Kent Island) and Martina Urgo (Astoria, N.Y./St. John's Prep) combined for seven of the team's 12 kills in the stanza to propel the Bears (1-2) to a 25-17 set win.

The second set saw the Bears storm to a 15-0 lead behind a quartet of service aces from Rachel Meltsin (Brooklyn, N.Y./James Madison) and a pair of kills by Urgo and Autumn Poppett (San Diego, Calif./Mission Hills). A combination of SJBK kills and Lehman errors contributed to the Bears' 25-9 set win, their largest set win since defeating York College by the same margin in November 2021.

The third frame followed a similar trend to the first, with the hosts leading 6-5 and the Bears storming back to hold a lead they failed to relinquish. The Lightning mustered up five points to cut the Bears' 21-12 lead to 21-17 but attacking errors, sandwiched between a Jillian McGinty (Glendale, N.Y./Queens Metropolitan), saw the Bears seal the 25-17 set win and 3-0 match.

For the Bears

• Urgo led the Bears' attack with seven kills and hit at a .208 clip. She also brought up six digs.

• Guerra slammed six kills of her own while Poppett had five.

• Poppett brought up 10 digs

• Four of Meltsin's five aces came in the second set. She also dished out 20 assists.

• Carol Melo (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) had a team-leading 13 digs.

• Lejla Bektesevic (Forest Hills, N.Y./Academy of Finance and Enterprise) registered four kills.

• The match saw the collegiate debut of Emily Hopkins (Astoria, N.Y./Monsignor McClancy)

• The result is the Bears' third consecutive win over Lehman and was the first meeting between the two schools since the 2018 season.

Up Next

The Bears will make their Hill Center debut on Thursday, September 21 when they host York College at 7 pm. Live stats and video will be available on sjbkathletics.com/live.