SJC Splits Skyline Tri-Match with Sage & Yeshiva

Patchogue, N.Y. – On Sunday, St. Joseph's hosted a Skyline Conference tri-match in which the Lady Eagles (5-1, 1-1 SKY) faced both the Yeshiva Maccabees (1-3, 0-2 SKY) and the Sage Gators (7-0, 3-0 SKY).  Sage was the ultimate victor of the day as they defeated both St. Joseph's and Yeshiva, while SJC finished with a split.

Both teams started out slow in the first match of the SJC vs. Yeshiva game.  As the match progressed the home team slowly began to break away from Yeshiva, widening the gap on the scoreboard.  The set became the Lady Eagles' first win of the day with a score of 25-15.

The pace of the second match was much faster as St. Joseph's seemed to find their groove.  Senior Ashley's Larrea's (Islip, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) three service aces set the Lady Eagles in motion as her service rotation would end with SJC up 11-5.  Yeshiva tried to fight back but their attempts were too little too late.  Freshman Erika Magnuson (Miller Place, N.Y./ Miller Place) would serve 13 unanswered points bringing St. Joseph's to game-point.  The set ended with a final score of 25-7.

The Lady Eagles had gained full momentum by the third set and came out on a tear.  Sophomore Julianne Tierney (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) served nine unanswered points with four service aces.  With the score at 10-1 Yeshiva worked hard to close the gap, and at one point brought the game within eight points, but SJC's lead was just too great as they finished with a score of 25-12 and the third win of the match.  

Freshman Heather Ferchland (Selden, N.Y./ Centereach)had a game high of 13 kills and sophomore Manuela Palacio finished with eight (Islip, N.Y./ Islip).  Tierney came away with a whopping 34 assists and Larrea led the team in digs with ten.

St. Joseph's game against Sage was excruciatingly close with the Gators winning each of the first two sets by three and two points, respectively (25-22, 26-24).

In the third match the Lady Eagles played to win.  After the game tied was at ten, SJC would not let Sage take the lead again, ultimately winning the set by ten points at a score of 25-15.  Sage came back in the fourth set, winning with another close score of 25-17, and coming away with the match victory (3-1).

While the scoreboard did not always agree, the Lady Eagles outperformed Sage in many areas of the game.  With Ferchland leading via another game high of 18 kills, SJC came away with 52 kills to Sage's 43.  Tierney had 43 of the Eagles total of 48 assists while Sage finished with 39.  Finally, the Lady Eagles topped Sage in service aces with 12 as Tiffany Willms (Centereach, N.Y./Centereach), Melissa Gerbaldi (Seaford, N.Y./ Island Trees), Samantha Jacoby (Oakdale N.Y./ Connetquot) and Ashley Larrea each contributed three.  Larrea also had a game high of 23 digs.