Volleyball Handles Staten Island with Ease In First Home Game

Patchogue, N.Y. - In their home-opener on Thursday evening, the St. Joseph's (2-0) women's volleyball team defeated Staten Island (0-2), 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-20) at the Danzi Athletic Center.  The Golden Eagles team, comprised of predominantly freshmen and sophomore student-athletes, has four returning players this season, all of whom started in Thursday's match.

The scoring in the beginning of the first match was back and forth with the two squads tying at points 9, 10, 11 and 12.  Soon enough though, SJC took control of the game and delivered six unanswered points to give them a solid lead.  St. Joseph's went on to win that set 25-14. 

The Lady Eagles came out soaring in the second set taking an early 6-0 lead.  CSI, from the CUNY Conference, slowly fought back and brought the score to 17-10, but they would not come within seven points of SJC again with a final score of 25-18. 

In the last set CSI showed some life, but it was not enough to overtake the young Eagles.  Staten Island took an early lead and seemed to have control of the set until the final moments when SJC went on a tear, finally winning 25-20.

SJC freshman Heather Ferchland (Selden, N.Y./ Centereach) and sophomore Manuela Palacio (Islip, N.Y./ Islip) dominated the front line with a combined 14 kills.  Julianne Tierney (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) had 21 assists and seven digs and senior libero Ashley Larrea (Islip, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) pulled through with 10 digs.  Freshman Tiffany Willms (Centereach, N.Y./Centereach) had a game-high seven service aces.

St. Joseph's next contest is a Skyline Tri-Match at home against Yeshiva and Sage, beginning Sunday at noon.

(Game Story by Caitlynn Webber)