Women’s Volleyball Scores Season-Opening Win Over Baruch in Debut for Coach Franzese

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's volleyball team (1-0) rallied after dropping their opening set to Baruch College (0-4) to pick up a 3-1 victory (22-25, 26-24, 25-14, 25-19) on the road on Tuesday evening. 

Rookie sophomore Grace Kane (Breezy Point, N.Y./Fontbonne Hall Academy) led the attack with nine kills, while senior Cristina Morales (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) and freshman Martina Urgo (Astoria, N.Y./St. John's Prep) chipped in seven kills apiece to give first-year head coach Vera Franzese a win in her collegiate debut. 

Junior Kaitlin Intindola (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) directed the offense with 21 assists and brought up 11 digs for a double-double and Carol Melo (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) anchored the defense with a match-high-tying 20 digs.

How it Happened

The Bears got off to a very slow start as Baruch raced out to an 11-0 lead to open the contest. SJC still trailed by 11 at the 20-9 mark before settling in and clawing back into the frame and falling 25-22.

SJC kept the momentum into the second stanza and built an early four-point lead at 10-6. Baruch caught up at 16-all and later used a 7-1 run to earn five set points, 24-19. But the Bears stormed back to win seven straight points to steal the set back and level the match — a pair of Urgo kills bookending the decisive run.

The Bears held on to a slim 11-10 lead midway through the third before pulling away and outscoring the hosts 14-4 the rest of the frame to take a 2-1 set advantage.

The fourth-and-final set saw 10 ties before SJC distanced themselves after the 17-all mark, closing out the win on an 8-2 spurt. Intindola ran off three straight points of her own with a kill and back-to-back aces to push the lead to 22-18 before a kill by Urgo set up match point and Morales delivering the final kill.

For the Bears

• Kane also aided the defense with 17 digs and served up three aces.
• Junior middle Ayomide Adeoye (Brooklyn, N.Y./Edward R. Murrow) chipped in five kills with two blocks.
• Julie Boyd (Staten Island, N.Y./Notre Dame Academy) had 14 digs to round out five Bears with double-digit digs as SJC held an 83-67 edge in digs. Boyd also added a pair of kills.
• The victory was the first over Baruch since the 2006 season. It was just the fourth meeting all-time with the Bears falling in straight sets in 2017 and 2019.
• The season-opening win is the first since 2017 and just the second in the last six seasons.

Schedule Change / Next up

Thursday's originally scheduled home opener against Medgar Evers College has been postponed. The Bears will return to the court on Tuesday, September 14 to host City College of New York in a non-conference match. First serve at The Hill Center is set for 7 p.m. with live video and stats at SJCBears.com/live.