Women’s Volleyball Hits .338 to Salvage Split of Tri-Match in Sweep of Purchase

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — All six starters recorded a kill to combine for a three-set season-high 35 kills as the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's volleyball team downed Purchase College in the final game of their Skyline Conference tri-match on Saturday afternoon. The Bears (8-10, 3-5 Skyline) fell to Mount Saint Mary College (16-12, 6-2) in the earlier match with the Knights going 2-0 on the day.

Mount Saint Mary 3, St. Joseph's 0 (25-13, 25-23, 25-17)

The Bears had few answers for the Knights attack that hit .371 in the opening set and led from wire-to-wire.

Behind Cristina Morales' (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) five kills and .556 hitting in the set, SJC found a rhythm in the second and built a four-point lead on three separate occasions, leading as late as 20-16. But the Bears couldn't hold off a late surge from the Knights who drew even at 22-all and won three of the final four points to take a 2-0 lead.

The visitors raced out to a 9-3 lead in the third and navy and white never recovered in a sloppy frame that saw more combined attacking errors (16) than kills (14).

• Morales led the Bears with nine kills and seven digs.
• Classmate Makayla Beehler (Rockaway Beach, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) finished with a 19-assist, 10-dig double-double.
• Brianna Marrazzo (East Elmhurst, N.Y./St. John's Prep) chipped in five kills.

St. Joseph's 3, Purchase 0 (25-17, 25-11, 25-10)

The opening set saw both teams go back-and-forth early before the Bears used a 6-0 run to build a 15-7 lead and never trailed again for the remainder of the match. Marrazzo, Valentina Urgo (Astoria, N.Y./St. John's Prep) and Kayla Ostermann (Glendale, N.Y./Queens Metropolitan) put away three kills each in the .308 hitting frame.

The offense kept clicking in the second and third jumping out to sizeable early leads and never let the Panthers back in the match. SJC logged double-digit kills in hit over .300 in all three sets while limiting the PC offense to as many attack errors as kills (16).

• Morales pounded a match-high 12 kills at a .364 clip—six coming in the third set—and fell one shy of a double-double with nine digs.
• Osterman hit a blistering .583 slamming seven error-free kills along with an ace and six digs.
• Urgo also hit an efficient .467 with seven error-less kills, paired with three aces and eight digs.
• Beehler handed out 28 assists and brought up 10 digs for her team-leading ninth double-double of the season.

Next Up for the Bears

The Bears continue a five-match homestand at The Hill Center welcoming City College of New York on Tuesday (Oct. 23) in a non-conference match starting at 7 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at SJCBears.com.