Men’s Volleyball Survives in Five Sets Against CCNY; Advances to CUNYAC Semifinals for Fourth Straight Year
BOX SCORE
JAMAICA, N.Y.— The York College men's volleyball team outlasted the City College of New York in a thrilling five-set match in the quarterfinals of the 2012 CUNY Athletic Conference Men's Volleyball Championship. The Cardinals won the first two sets, only to see the Beavers win the next two and force a fifth set. York would narrowly pull out the fifth set and the match by a score of 3-2 (25-20, 25-22, 19-25, 21-25, 15-13).
With the win, York now advances to the semifinals, which will be played on Thursday at 4:00 p.m. at Hunter College. The Cardinals will take on Baruch College. Should York win its semifinal match, they will play in the finals at 8:00 p.m.
It seemed like every set got a little bit tougher for York. York cruised to a first-set win before holding off CCNY in the second set. Both teams went back-and-forth in the second set. York held a narrow 21-20 lead but scored four of the final six points to go up 2-0.
Things changed in the third as York fell behind early (12-8) after committing three attack errors in four plays. The Cardinals would keep closing the gap only to see CCNY rebound and pull away again.
In the fourth set, things really got away form York, as they fell behind 20-13. But the Cardinals picked up their play from there. With
Jhonnattan Fernandez serving, York ran off six consecutive points to cut the deficit to one. But that would be as close as York would get in the set as consecutive hitting errors gave CCNY a three-point lead (22-19). The Beavers would eventually even up the match with a kill by Nick Siriban.
In the fifth and deciding set, York jumped out to a 9-5 lead after a service ace by
Bryan Williams. A few points later, following a kill by Edner Geffard, the Cardinals looked to have a commanding 13-10 lead. CCNY had one more rally in them, rattling off three straight points to tie the match at 13-13. But the Cardinals would not be denied. Geffard responded with a kill for York to set up match point and then a hitting error by CCNY clinched the match for the Cardinals.
Geffard led the way for York, with 21 kills, six digs and five blocks.
Francis Jimenez chipped in ten kills and seven digs and
Terrence Sutton had eight kills and a team-high 12 digs.
Jon Peter Sardea added 24 assists, while
Glenn Vargas had 21 assists. Fernandez and Williams also contributed with six kills apiece. York improves to 19-13 with the win.
CCNY was paced by Siriban who finished with a match-high 22 kills and six blocks. Brandon Reeves had 11 kills and hit .455 and Xie Xihe had a match-high 13 digs. CCNY finishes the season with a record of 9-23.
It will be the fourth straight year the Cardinals have reached the semifinal round and they will hope to advance to the finals for the first time during that span. Tickets to the Championship are free and can be
obtained online here. If you can't make it out to Hunter College, you can still follow through
live stats by clicking here.
