Men’s Volleyball Rallies Past Yeshiva in Five-Set Marathon in Skyline Opener

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Led by a combined 35 kills from Sean Salomons (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's) and Tim Driscoll (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's), the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team overcame a 2-1 set deficit and two match points to rally past Yeshiva, 3-2 (25-20, 29-31, 20-25, 25-16, 16-14), in Skyline Conference action on Thursday evening at The Hill Center.

Salomons and Driscoll both reached career highs in kills with 18 and 17, respectively, to help the Bears (1-9, 1-0 Skyline) snap a nine-game skid to open the season with their second-straight five-set triumph over the Maccabees (1-6, 0-1 Skyline) dating back to last season.

How It Happened

Driscoll paced the offense with six kills in the opening set, three coming in the final four points, as the Bears maintained a slight separation after the 15-all mark and took the frame 25-20.

A wild second stanza saw St. Joseph's rally from as many as six down at 15-9 to draw even at 23-all. The Bears erased a pair of Maccabee set points before gaining a set point of their own. Both teams exchanged points Yeshiva finally capitalized on their fifth set point to level the match with a 31-29 set.

Yeshiva carried the momentum into the third with a late rally. The Bears used a 3-0 run capped by a Dejon St. Rose-Cuffy kill to build their largest lead of the set at 19-15, before Yeshiva stormed back with nine unanswered closing out the set on a 10-1 run to build a 2-1 set advantage.

St. Joseph's ran away with the fourth set with a 9-2 run that opened a 10-point cushion at 18-8. The Bears hit .333 in the frame with just one attack error paced by a trio of kills from Driscoll and Salomons and three blocks from St. Rose-Cuffy.

The Bears took an early lead in the fifth and led by as many as four, 10-6, before the visitors assembled an 8-2 run to gain match point at 14-12, prompting an SJC timeout. Out of the timeout, a pair of Yeshiva miscues leveled the match at 14-all, a Salomons kill brought on set point, and a Driscoll ace capped off the 4-0 run to seal the comeback.

For the Bears

• Sean Salomons led all attackers with 18 kills at a .308 clip. He also chipped in three blocks, four aces, and five digs.
• Tim Driscoll registered career highs of 17 kills and 20 digs, also serving up six aces.
• Dejon St. Rose-Cuffy (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Loughlin) chipped in six kills while stuffing five blocks (three solo).
• Stephen Eddy (Glendale, N.Y./Christ the King) anchored the back row with a team-high 21 digs, also chipping in four kills.
• Timothy Boyd (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's) handed out a career-high 40 assists paired with eight digs.

Quotable

Great, hard fought win. Team showed a ton of character and toughness, proud of the way @SJCBears battle and compete! https://t.co/E09wUb7hAE

— James Lally (@JamesLallySJC) March 8, 2019

Next Up for the Bears

Riding their first win of the season, the Bears head to defending champions and preseason favorites St. Joseph's (Long Island) on Wednesday (Mar. 13) opening an 11-match road stand. First serve in Patchogue, N.Y. is set for 7 p.m. with live stats and video available on SJCBears.com.