BOX SCORE NEW YORK, N.Y. – The York College men's volleyball team pulled off a thrilling five-set victory over Hunter College in the semifinals of the 2013 CUNY Athletic Conference/ Con Edison Men's Volleyball Championship on Friday night, defeating the Hawks, 3-2 (25-21, 33-31, 23-25, 5-25, 15-9).
The Cardinals (24-14) ended the Hawks (14-14) streak of ten straight appearances in the CUNYAC title game. The last time Hunter did not reach the championship game was 2002. York will be making its first appearance in the Championship since the 2004 season. The finals will take place later tonight, at 8 p.m. against Baruch College.
York, seeded #3 in the tournament, jumped out to a 2-0 set advantage at the Nat Holman Gymnasium on the campus of City College, but needed five sets to eventually pull out the victory over the second-seed Hawks.
The Cardinals came out strong, taking the first set thanks to their dominant play at the net. The Cardinals blocked six shots in the opening set, led by
Leszek Stankiewicz with three block assists and
Jhonnattan Fernandez with two solo blocks.
Kevin Mora also added two block assists. York hit .207 with 13 kills, while holding Hunter to just a .034 hitting percentage.
The second set was an epic battle. Hunter took an early 11-7 lead and looked to have regained control of the match. But York slowly battled back and eventually tied the score at 21-21 after a Stankiewicz service ace. But Hunter took three of the next four points to go up 24-22, and get two set points. The Cardinals were able to fight off the two set points after a Hunter attack error and then an
Edner Geffrard kill.
From there both teams went back and forth for several more points. Hunter earned the next three set points, only to have York fight it off each time and even the score at 28-28. The Cardinals then earned three set points of their own but it was the Hawks who kept the match going this time. However, York finally broke through to take the set. Geffrard slammed a kill to make it 32-31 and then Hunter had a hitting error to give the Cardinals a 2-0 set advantage.
The Hawks got back in the match though, winning the third set, 25-23. With the score tied at 12-12, Hunter went on a 6-1 run to take an 18-13 advantage. That stretch would be key as York nearly battled back. Hunter led 24-19 and York fought off all but one set point, before the Hawks finished off the set.
In the fourth set, Hunter really picked up its play and dominated action. Hunter hit an impressive .579 in the fourth set. Meanwhile, York played very sloppy, hitting -.130, while committing three ball-handling errors, a service error and two reception errors.
It looked like Hunter had grabbed the momentum after the decisive fourth-set victory. But York regrouped, jumping out to an 8-4 lead following another kill from Geffrard and were never threatened from there. They clinched the match at 15-9.
The win was a total team effort, as just about everyone contributed. Geffrard put the team on his back in the match, slamming a team-high 18 kills, hitting .270 and adding five digs and two blocks on defense. Stankiewicz added ten kills, seven digs and seven blocks, while
Avinash Thomas finished with seven kills, nine digs, three blocks and eight assists.
Sebastien Francois had seven kills, nine digs and three blocks and Fernandez recorded eight kills and three blocks. Primary setter
Jon Peter Sardea finished with 28 assists and libero
Terrence Sutton had 11 digs.
Hunter saw an incredible performance from Braien Otsla wasted, as he registered 29 kills and hit .429 on offense, while blocking four shots and adding 13 digs on defense. Nino Hot chipped in ten kills and setter Stanley Martinez set up his teammates all night, finishing with 53 assists.
Live streaming video and
live stats are available for the championship game. Fans can also still get tickets by going to
cunyathletics.com
