York College

Mount Saint Vincent Box

Cooper Union Box

JAMAICA, NY— 27 kills by Ahmed Helmi would not be enough to lift York to a victory against the College of Mount Saint Vincent Saturday, as the Cardinals dropped a five-set match in heartbreaking fashion, losing 3-2 (24-26, 25-19, 15-21, 26-24, 16-14).  However, Helmi later added 13 kills in the second match as York rebounded to defeat Cooper Union 3-0 (25-17, 25-12, 25-15).

Mount Saint Vincent Recap

The contest between Mount Saint Vincent and York was about as close as a match can get.  Each set, with the exception of the second was tightly contested.  The Cardinals looked poised to take the match after they took a 14-11 lead in the fourth set, following a Helmi kill.  However, the Dolphins scored three straight to even the score.  The two teams then exchanged points back and forth until the very end of the set.  With the score tied at 24-24, MSV's Michael Sin smashed a kill and York followed with an attack error to send the match to a deciding fifth set. 

In the fifth set, each team traded six points until the Dolphins ran off three in a row to go up 9-6.  York responded with four consecutive points to recapture the lead and momentum.  The Dolphins would not be denied though. After tying the score at 10-10, MSV's Chris Bacchi served up three straight aces to put the Dolphins up 13-10.  Two points later, the Dolphins led 14-11 and had three match points.   However, a service error and two attack errors erased those three match points and gave York a chance to comeback.  The Dolphins regrouped, however, and got kills from Michael Sargente and Sin to win the match. 

York also received 12 kills, 12 digs and five blocks from Alex Niles and nine kills and 16 digs from Terrence Sutton.  Kenan Kajtezovic added 48 assists and 13 digs, while Maximo Bonilla finished with six kills and five digs.  The Dolphins were led by Bacchi who had 16 kills and eight digs.  Michael Knott finished with 15 digs.

Cooper Union Recap

York needed just 49 minutes to put Cooper Union away as they dominated every aspect of the match.  The Cardinals hit at a .339 percentage, compared to -.049 for Cooper Union.  They also served up nine aces and tallied eight blocks.  Helmi hit at a .579 percentage, while also serving up seven aces and blocking two shots.  Sutton and Niles each had ten kills apiece and Kajtezovic finished with 29 assists.

York (1-2) will host Polytechnic on Monday at 7:00 p.m.