Volleyball Rallies to 3-1 Record in SJC Tournament

Patchogue, N.Y. — The Golden Eagles (16-10) hosted their annual St. Joseph's College Tournament in which six teams competed in a total of twelve matches over the course of two days. SJC fared very well, winning three of their own four matches, falling only to a strong Ramapo College squad.

The Golden Eagles kicked off the tournament on Friday with an impressive 3-0 win over the New Jersey City Knights (5-19). SJC left no question that they were there to dominate, jumping out to a quick lead 17-5 lead in the first set of the match. The Knights eventually got into the rhythm and even brought the game within three at 23-20, but the Eagles finished strong to grab the first set 25-20.

SJC got progressively stronger as the match went on, jumping out to commanding leads in both the second and third sets and finishing with 25-17 and 25-11 wins, respectively.

Heather Ferchland (Selden, N.Y./ Centereach) had ten kills in the game while Tiffany Willms (Centereach, N.Y./ Centereach) and Samantha Jacoby (Oakdale, N.Y./ Connetquot) each finished with six. Julianne Tierney (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) contributed 31 assists and five kills to the win.

The Eagles took a little more time to find their groove in their second match on Friday against the Wilkes University Colonels (10-14), as the visiting team won the first match 25-20 after a back and forth game.

The second match also proved to be a nail-biter as the game was forced to go to 27 due to tying, but SJC came out victorious in the end. Now, with fire under their feet, the Golden Eagles buckled down and won the next two games 25-22 and 26-4, respectively, taking the match 3-1.

Ferchland had an incredible 19 kills while Tierney had 40 assists and 12 digs.  Melissa Garibaldi (Seaford, N.Y./ Island Trees) slammed down nine kills while Erin Kelly (Ridge, N.Y./ Longwood) grabbed 14 digs.

With two games under their belt, the St. Joseph's stepped back onto the court Saturday morning for their third match of the tournament against the Keystone Giants (9-17). The Giants proved to be strong competition for the Eagles as, after much back-and-forth in the first set, the home team finally cinched the 28-26 win. The Giants then came back in the second set and answered with a win of their own.

The Eagles, finally awake and warmed up, won the next two games 25-20 and 25-18, respectively, refusing to allow the Giants to gain the lead again.

Ferchland, whose performance only seemed to improve as the tournament went on, had a whopping 23 kills. Tierney had 42 assists, nine digs and two kills; Kelly also contributed with 13 digs.

Unfortunately, worn out from the demanding weekend, the Golden Eagles were unable to finish on a high note as they fell to the Ramapo Roadrunners (23-8), 3-0. The match was not without excellent efforts from all of the Golden Eagles, however. Ferchland had eight kills, Tierney had 18 assists and Kelly had nine digs.

The Golden Eagles will host their final Skyline Conference match against Yeshiva University at 8 p.m. on Thursday.