Men's Volleyball Erases a Two-Set Deficit For Comeback Win in Five Over CSI

BROOKLYN, N.Y.—The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's volleyball team leveraged a balanced attack and gathered momentum late for a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over the College of Staten Island (23-25, 19-25, 25-21, 25-21, 15-10) at home at The Hill Center on Monday night.

The triumph for the Bears (7-3) is their sixth in seven games, moving to a program-best four games over .500. St. Joseph's improves to a perfect 3-0 this season in five-set affairs and winning their second match ever after dropping the opening two sets.

Senior Raul Urshela (Orlando, Fla./Colonial) and juniors Thomas Kennedy (Breezy Point, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) and Taso Kostikas (Brooklyn, N.Y./Midwood) accounted for all 51 of the Bears' kills. Urshela pounded a match-high 18 kills, while Kennedy and Kostikas both slammed career highs with 17 and 16 kills, respectively, and both finished with double-doubles—Kostikas with a match-high 21 digs and Kennedy with 12.

Junior Norrin Martinez (Maspeth, N.Y./Holy Cross) directed the offense that hit .210 for the match handing out a program-record 47 assists.

Staten Island (4-14) also produced a balanced attack with Mark Palencia leading the way with a 16-kill, 10-dig double-double. Brian Sheydvasser and Justin Edwardsen added 15 and 14 kills each against four combined errors, both hitting over .400 for the two-hour, 10-minute affair.

The Dolphins led for most of the opening frame but the Bears reeled them back in late but couldn't steal the set, falling 25-23. Staten Island continued to play loose and free in the second stanza using an early 6-0 run to cruise to a 25-19 win.

The visitors seemed poised to sweep the season series and snap an eight-game skid starting to build another lead at 9-6 in the third set before the Bears rattled off 11 of the next 12 points, six coming off Dolphin miscues and another three coming off back-to-back-to-back Kostikas aces and the momentum began to swing towards the hosts, St. Joseph's claiming the set 25-21.

The Bears continued the surge in the fourth and rallied the crowd behind them after building an early 8-4 advantage and never trailed by less than four the remainder of the frame. With the demeanor of the Dolphins starting to change, St. Joseph's built as large as a 10-point lead, 23-13, before a late Dolphin rally would fall short, 25-21.

Both squads played the deciding set even through 4-all and the Bears would inch out to an 8-4 lead at the changeover taking advantage of three straight Dolphin miscues. The Bears would give a point back on an error of their own, before bombarding the Dolphins with five straight kills, including four straight from Kennedy that gave St. Joseph's a 13-5 lead, eventually completing the comeback off kills from Kennedy and Urshela. In the final frame, the Bears attack combined for 10 kills—five by Kennedy—against only two errors and hit a match-best .410 which proved to be the difference. 

St. Joseph's will continue a three-game home stand at The Hill Center on Thursday, March 12 hosting future Skyline Conference rival Purchase College. First serve is slated for 7 p.m. with live stats and video on SJCBears.com