Women’s Volleyball Mounts Five-Set Comeback to Defeat CCNY

NEW YORK — Down two sets to none, the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's volleyball team rallied to win three straight sets to overcome City College of New York on Friday night. Freshman Tiffany Garcia-Lawson (Floral Park, N.Y./St. John's Prep) led the way for SJC, tallying a team-high 16 points, with 11 kills and four aces. Junior Nina DiCioccio (Brooklyn, N.Y/St. Edmund Prep) had a near double-double with nine kills and 11 digs.

The Basics

• Final Score: St. Joseph's 3, CCNY 2
• Set Scores: 16-25, 23-25, 25-19, 25-22, 20-18
• Records: St. Joseph's (2-1), CCNY (2-6)
• Location: New York, N.Y. — Nat Holman Gymnasium

How It Happened

• Dana Roussos (Astoria, N.Y./Monsignor McClancy) served a pair of aces to power a 5-0 run to open the game for the Bears, but were unable to hold off the hosts as they used a 6-0 run followed by a 7-1 run to take the opening set.
• The Bears looked poised to level the match in the second set building a 23-20 lead on a Valentia Urgo (Astoria, N.Y. / St. John's Prep) ace, but CCNY won five straight points to steal back the set.
• The Beavers jumped out to an early 11-3 lead in the third stanza and still led 15-10 before the Bears closed out the set on a 15-4 run, capped by a Garcia-Lawson ace to end the frame.
• Neither team led by more than three throughout the fourth and with the set tied at 17-all, SJC rattled off five straight points to take the lead for good and force a deciding set.
• The deciding set found the Bears up 8-4 at the side change and remained on top, gaining two match points, which they couldn't convert. SJC had to then fight off two CCNY match points of their own at 16-15 and 17-16 before finally completing the comeback on a Beaver miscue on their fourth match point taking the frame, 20-18.

For the Bears

• Tiffany Garcia-Lawson was the lone Bear with double-kills, finishing with 11 and landing four aces. She helped the defense with eight digs and a solo block.
• Nina DiCioccio had a near double-double, racking up nine kills and 11 digs.
• Valentina Urgo led the Bears with five aces—the team combining for 19 aces—and slammed six kills.
• Sophomore Paige Csikortos (Rocky Point, N.Y./Rocky Point) facilitated the offense handing out 17 assists paired with 10 digs for a double-double.
• Dana Roussos anchored the defense with 18 digs and contributed four aces and three kills.

The Bear Facts

• This is St. Joseph's first comeback from 0-2 down in sets since 2015, when they took down Culinary (Sep. 13), 3-2.
• The Bears defeated CCNY last season as well (Oct. 18), by a score of 3-1 at The Hill Center.

Next Up for the Bears

• The Bears return to The Hill Center on Tuesday (Sep. 19), to host Baruch College at 7 p.m. Live stats and video available at SJCBears.com.