Men's Volleyball Gameday: Bears at Sarah Lawrence Tri-Match

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – St. Joseph's (2-4) opens up Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (HVIAC) play with a tri-match at Sarah Lawrence College on Sunday, March 9th. The Bears will face Sarah Lawrence (0-17) at 11 a.m. before taking on Yeshiva University (1-9) at 1 p.m.

Game Information

St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) (2-4, 0-0 HVIAC) at
Sarah Lawrence College (0-17, 0-1 HVIAC)
Sunday, March 9th • 11 a.m.
Campbell Sports Center • Bronxville, N.Y.

St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) (2-4, 0-0 HVIAC) vs.
Yeshiva University (1-9, 1-0 HVIAC)
Sunday, March 9th • 1 p.m.
Campbell Sports Center • Bronxville, N.Y.

Live Stats | Video

Storylines

• St. Joseph's looks to start HVIAC play unbeaten for the first time in school history with a pair of wins.
• With a pair of wins St. Joseph's would be .500 on the season for the first time in the month of March in school history.
• The Bears try to improve to 4-2 all-time against Sarah Lawrence and pick up their first win ever against Yeshiva.
• Two-time HVIAC Player of the Week Raul Urshela looks to continue his strong play, coming off a 15-kill, 5-dig performance at Lehman on Wednesday.

Series History

vs. Sarah Lawrence: St. Joseph's holds a 3-2 lead in the all-time series, but the Gryphons took the last meeting in four sets on April 11th in the HVMAC Tournament Semifinals.

vs. Yeshiva: The Maccabees own an 11-0 edge in the all-time series against the Bears dating back to 2009. The two teams last met on March 21, 2013, resulting in a five-set victory for Yeshiva.

The Bear Facts

Last Time Out: St. Joseph's played close in the first set, but too many errors later in the match were the downfall as they were defeated by Lehman College in straight sets, 3-0 (25-20, 25-10, 25-12), on Wednesday night at The APEX at Lehman College. Raul Urshela had a team-high 15 kills, while Taso Kostikas had four kills and 12 digs.

St. Joseph's looks to get off to a good start in HVIAC play with a pair of wins over four-time defending regular season champions Yeshiva and last year's conference tournament runner-up Sarah Lawrence. The Bears have never started league play off 2-0 and have not won a match at Sarah Lawrence since March 8, 2012.

Pacing St. Joseph's on the offensive end is two-time HVIAC Player of the Week Raul Urshela who has 67 kills on the year (No. 2 in HVIAC), good for 3.53 kills per set (No. 1 in HVIAC). The outside hitter also has a .185 hitting percentage (No. 2 in HVIAC) and averages 0.50 blocks per set (No. 4 in HVIAC).

Contributing on the defensive end is sophomore Taso Kostikas who averages 2.68 digs per set (No. 1 in HVIAC) and has 51 total digs on the year (No. 4 in HVIAC). The outside hitter also leads the conference with 0.53 service aces per set.

Helping direct the offense is senior setter Iqbal Husain who averages 5.42 assists per set (No. 2 in HVIAC) and has 103 total assists on the year (No. 3 in HVIAC).

Welcome to Gryphondor

Last Time Out: Sarah Lawrence dropped a straight-set match (10-25, 18-25, 7-25) to Southern Vermont College at home on Thursday. The Gryphons were led by Ishaan Pujari who had a team-high two kills.

Sarah Lawrence comes into today's action having lost 18 matches in a row dating back to the end of last season. The Gryphons have dropped all but one of their 17 matches this season in straight sets and are 0-12 at home so far this year. Sarah Lawrence finished 3-3 in conference play a year ago and lost to Yeshiva in the conference tournament championship game at the end of the season.

One-time HVIAC Player of the Week Ishaan Pujari leads the Gryphons on the offensive side with a HVIAC-leading 102 kills and ranks third with 2.00 kills per set. The outside hitter also leads the conference with 74 digs and carries a 1.45 digs per set average (No. 5 in HVIAC).

Providing support is one-time HVIAC Player of the Week Brent Terry who averages 2.92 assists per set (No. 3 in HVIAC) and has 48 digs on the year.

The Mac Attack

Last Time Out: Yeshiva dropped a Skyline Conference matchup at NYU-Poly in four sets (23-25, 25-15, 16-25, 23-25) on Tuesday. The Maccabees were led by Menachem Goldstein who finished with a team-high 15 kills.

Yeshiva, the four-time defending HVIAC regular season champions, come in having lost nine of their first ten matches with the lone win coming at home against Sarah Lawrence. The Maccabees opened the season at Lehman where they lost a close five-set match.

Menachem Goldstein is the leader of Yeshiva on offense with 2.44 kills per set (No. 2 in HVIAC) and 61 total kills (No. 3 in HVIAC). The middle blocker also leads the conference with a .214 hitting percentage and 0.88 blocks per set.

Orchestrating the Maccabees offense is setter Adam Rhodes who puts up 6.18 assists per set (No. 1 in HVIAC). Leadin Yeshiva on the defensive side of things is Jorge Dabah who averages 1.92 digs per set (No. 2 in HVIAC).

Team Comparison

Bears	Nickname	Gryphons	Maccabees
2-4 (0-0)	Record	0-17 (0-1)	1-9 (1-0)
HVIAC	Conference	HVIAC	HVIAC
Roster | Schedule | Statistics	Team Info	Roster | Schedule | Statistics	Roster | Schedule | Statistics
Raul Urshela (67)	Top Kills	Ishaan Pujari (102)	Menachem Goldstein (61)
Taso Kotiskas (51)	Top Digs	Ishaan Pujari (74)	Jared Rechnitz (59)
Iqbal Husain (103)	Top Assists	Brent Terry (143)	Adam Rhodes (173)
6.63	Kills	3.65	7.03
.060	Attack %	-.077	.072
5.95	Assists	3.13	6.53
1.89	Service Aces	0.94	1.00
56	Reception Errors	303	93
7.84	Digs	4.63	8.79
1.03	Blocks	0.49	1.60