Helfant and Bravo Earn Their Second Skyline Men’s Volleyball Weekly Honors

NEW YORK — St. Joseph's University men's volleyball juniors Alex Helfant (Quito, Ecuador/Alliance Academy International) and Leonel Bravo (Astoria, N.Y./Queens Vocational & Technical) were named Skyline Conference Men's Volleyball Player and Libero of the Week, respectively. The announcement was made by the conference on Tuesday morning.

Both Helfant and Bravo earned their second league distinctions of the season, becoming the first Bears in men's volleyball program history to earn multiple Skyline weekly honors in a single campaign.

Helfant etched his name into the Bears' record book last Tuesday night as his 32 kills against Yeshiva set a new single-match program record, surpassing the 24 previously set by Raul Urshela in 2013 and 2014 and Helfant himself earlier this season. His 90 total attack attempts surpassed Jon Matzelle's 68 against Medgar Evers in 2009, a record that stood for 14 seasons. Helfant's 15 digs against the Maccabees aided the Bears to their third five-set winner of the year.

The outside hitter recorded his eighth double-double behind a 12-kill, 10-dig showing against Ramapo on Thursday night.

Bravo averaged 16 digs in the Bears' 1-1 week. He brought up a team-best 22 against Yeshiva, following it up by 10 against Ramapo. He added two kills to his name over the course of the two matches.

Bravo (3.61) and Helfant (3.09) rank second and fourth in the conference in digs per set, propelling the Bears to a NCAA Division III-leading 13.53 digs per set. Helfant leads the Skyline and the nation with 12.44 attacks per set.

Helfant, Bravo, and the Bears conclude the regular season at The Hill Center with matches against New Jersey City University on Tuesday, April 4 and Purchase College on Thursday, April 6. Both contests begin at 7 p.m. with live stats and video available on sjbkathletics.com/live.