Women's Volleyball Rolls Past Cooper Union in Season Opener

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Powered by a match-high 16 kills from sophomore Lauren GaNun (Breezy Point, N.Y./Fontbonne Hall), the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's volleyball team captured a straight-set victory (25-7, 25-5, 25-10) over Cooper Union on Friday night in the Lady Bears' season opener at Simon Baruch Middle School.

St. Joseph's (1-0) dominated from the onset of the match finishing the night hitting an efficient .367 with 27 kills and 14 service aces. The Lady Bears took the first two sets easily before struggling early on in the third set before taking command and finishing off the match.

Junior Jennifer Moncino (Ridgewood, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) served up a match-high five service aces while slamming down two kills. Senior Sabrina Cornia (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller) helped facilitate the offense dishing out a match-high 17 assists. St. Joseph's also received contributions from sophomore Anna Carbone (Ozone Park, N.Y./Mary Louis) and senior Megan Moran (Syosset, N.Y./St. Dominic's) who each tabulated three kills.

Cooper Union (0-2) was led by Alexa Orrico and Polina Smirnova who combined for four of the Lady Hawks five kills.

In the opening set, the Lady Bears broke away with a 7-1 run behind three service aces from Moncino and they would not look back as they finished the set on a 18-6 spurt powered by seven kills from the reigning Association of Division III Independents (AD3I) Rookie of the Year GaNun.

The second stanza saw a repeat performance by St. Joseph's as they overwhelmed Cooper Union jumping out to a 16-2 lead before closing out the set with a Moncino kill.

The Lady Hawks opened the third set on a strong note as they opened up an early 6-5 advantage but with the possibility of a fourth set looming St. Joseph's stepped up their intensity and took over control of the set finishing the set and match on a 20-4 run.

St. Joseph's returns to the court on Wednesday, September 18th, welcoming sister campus St. Joseph's (L.I.) to Brooklyn Technical High School for the Lady Bears home opener starting at 7:30 p.m.