Lady Bears Fall to Brooklyn in Straight Sets

BROOKLYN, NY – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's volleyball team dropped a straight set decision, 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-23), to cross borough rival Brooklyn College on Thursday night.

The Lady Bears put up a hard fight on the road in front of the large crowd of 367 celebrating Spirit Day for the Bulldogs home opener.

In the opening set, St. Joseph's erased a five-point lead to pull within one late, 21-20, but Brooklyn took four of the final five points for the set win.

The Bulldogs raced out to a 9-2 lead to open the second set, prompting a St. Joseph's timeout. The Lady Bears managed to close the deficit to 13-12, but were never able to equalize the set, ultimately falling 25-19.

The final stanza was a see-saw battle that had 15 ties and seven lead changes with neither team able to build more than a two point advantage. With the score tied 23-23, the Bulldogs captured the final two points to close out the match.

Senior outside hitter Kim Matthews (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) led St. Joseph's registering a match-high tying 18 digs with six kills and an ace. Senior Kathy McCarthy (Breezy Point, NY/Fontbonne Hall) added 14 digs with six kills. Sophomore setter Sabrina Cornia (Miller Place, NY/Miller High) handed out 13 assists with eight digs and four kills.

Brooklyn College (3-1) was led by Jillian Escobar who had a match-high 10 kills and nine digs. Iris Clopton-Robinson anchored the defense with 18 digs and Kathy Chu had 26 assists.

St. Joseph's (1-2) returns to action with a weekend road trip to La Plume, PA to face Keystone College on Saturday, September 17 at 1:00 p.m.