Lady Bears Volleyball Sweeps Pratt in HVWAC Opener

BROOKLYN, NY – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's volleyball team opened Hudson Valley Women's Athletic Conference play with a straight-set, 3-0 victory (25-10, 25-15, 25-23) over Clinton Hill rivals Pratt Institute on Wednesday evening at Brooklyn Technical High School.

The victory moves the Lady Bears to 2-0 on the young season and 1-0 in conference play and a share atop the league standings. Pratt falls to 0-1 in their season opener.

Senior Kim Matthews (Breezy Point, NY/Bishop Kearney) and freshman Lauren GaNun (Breezy Point, NY/Fontbonne Hall) led the St. Joseph's attack putting down a match-high nine kills each, GaNun also hitting .471 for the match committing one error. Sophomore Nicole Rios (Astoria, NY/Mary Louis) tallied a match-high 11 points with six kills and five aces to go along with 10 digs.

Junior Megan Moran (Syosset, NY/St. Dominic's) added seven kills and two assisted blocks.  Freshman libero Anna Carbone (Ozone Park, NY/Mary Louis) anchored the defense with 11 digs. Junior Sabrina Cornia (Miller Place, NY/Miller HS) controlled the offense dishing out 27 assists.

The Lady Bears, who entered the contest leading Division III in aces per set, served up 13 aces and hit .286 with 34 kills. 

The Cannoneers were led by Diana Lezama who had a team-high five kills.  Deniz Ozguven led the defense with 11 digs, sharing match-high honors with Carbone, and Hikari Nagasaki handed out 14 assists.

Early in the match, with St. Joseph's leading 3-2, both squads dueled to a long rally that went in the Lady Bears favor. The hard-fought point sparked a 12-1 run that the Lady Bears carried into an easy set victory.

St. Joseph's raced out again in the second stanza, Cornia serving eight straight points to a 9-2 lead and Pratt would only cut the Lady Bears advantage to five before ultimately dropping the set.

The finale was the most competitive set of the night as Pratt led for most of the set. After the Cannoneers matched their largest lead of the match, 17-13, the Lady Bears took control of the set with a 10-2 run and sealed the victory.

St. Joseph's returns to the court on Saturday, September 19th seeing their first road action of the season heading upstate to SUNY Canton. Host Canton was ranked #5 in the latest USCAA Coaches' Poll and the Lady Bears will also square off against Johnson State and Paul Smiths in a set of key USCAA contests.