Women’s Volleyball Sweeps Staten Island on Senior Night Notching 100th Win for Coach O’Neill

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — On a night where they honored two seniors, the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's volleyball team wrapped up a 7-2 campaign at The Hill Center with a straight-set victory over The College of Staten Island on Thursday night. The win brought the Bears back to .500 for the season and made Head Coach Kathleen O'Neill a member of the 100-win coaching club.

The Basics

• Final Score: St. Joseph's 3, Staten Island 0
• Set Scores: 25-21, 25-17, 25-22
• Records: St. Joseph's (11-11), Staten Island 7-16
• Location: Brooklyn, N.Y. — The Hill Center

How It Happened

• The squads remained close through the first half of the opening set and the visitors won four straight to creep out to a 16-11 lead, before the Bears responded with five unanswered and never trailed the rest of the frame. With the set tied 21-all, SJC closed out the frame with four straight points capped by a Valentina Urgo service ace and a Nina DiCioccio kill.
• Highlighted by six kills from Brianna Marrazzo, St. Joseph's built as large as a 10-point lead, 16-6, in the second stanza and maintained the separation the rest of the way. Senior Samantha Cacace brought up nine digs in the set.
• The third set saw Bears led for most of the way, but couldn't pull away by more than four. After ties late in the frame at 21-all and 22-all, the Bears closed out the win with three straight points off kills from DiCioccio and Elizabeth Quahliero and a Marrazzo ace.

For the Bears

• Freshman Briana Marrazzo recorded her third game with double-digit kills, pounding a team-high 10, along with three blocks.
• Freshman Elizabeth Quahliero added eight kills against only one error for a .350 hitting night and also served up five aces.
• Seniors Samantha Cacace and Samantha Rossi led the defense combining for 27 of the team's 67 digs and were the only Bears in double figures in the statistic. Cacace also added a triplet of kills and aces.
• Sophomore Nina DiCioccio slammed six kills and had seven digs.
• Freshman Alanna Palomino dished out 32 assists on the teams 37 kills. It was her fourth game with 30+ assists.

The Bear Facts

• The Bears concludes a successful 7-2 home campaign in the Hill Center and are winners of three of their last four senior night games.
• St. Joseph's finishes the non-conference schedule and compiled an 8-1 mark against the CUNY Conference this season.
• Collecting her 100th career victory, Head Coach Kathleen O'Neill sits one game below .500 for her career. With a split of their remaining tri-match, she will record her fifth .500-or-better season in her nine-year career.
• St. Joseph's sweeps the home-and-home series with the Dolphins this season and improves to 11-4 in the all-time series.

Next up for St. Joseph's

The Bears will wrap up their 2016 season on Sunday, October 30th with a Skyline Conference tri-match at Maritime College (12-13, 4-5). St. Joseph's will play the hosts at 11 a.m. followed by SUNY College at Old Westbury (4-19, 2-7) at 1 p.m. Live stats will be available on SJCBears.com.