Golden Eagles Take Arcadia to Five Sets in Non-Conference Victory on Friday

Written by Joshua Soto(SJC-LI Sports Information)

Patchogue, NY| Behind a strong performance by freshman Paul Curaro the St. Joseph's College (L.I.) men's volleyball team collected a hard-fought win over Arcadia College in a non-conference match at the Danzi Center on Friday evening.

With the win the Golden Eagles improve to 4-2 on the year as the Knights slide to 4-4.

After dropping the first set 25-22, SJC found itself up 12-4 midway through the second frame as Arcadia inched back with a 4-0 run of its own but the Golden Eagles fended off the comeback attempt and clinched a 25-18 victory with freshman Matt Cole's set-winning kill.

Down 10-8, the Golden Eagles sparked a 6-0 run to take the 14-10 advantage, but the Knights answered back with a 4-0 run of their own to tie the set at 14. Another 3-0 run by the host's gave SJC a three-point lead (20-16) and a Matthew Amberege kill sealed the 25-20 victory in third set victory.

In tightly contest fourth set, Arcadia came up on top 25-17 and looked poised to win the match in the fifth set.  The Golden Eagles began the final frame with a 3-0 run, and would go up 4-7 before Arcadia called a timeout to try to ice the SJC's momentum. The visitors came within one (7-6) but the Golden Eagles strung together three straight points to go up 10-6. Kyle Biggers went up and fired a match-winning kill to best the Knights 15-10.

Augmenting the SJC attack, which generated 48 kills to Arcadia's 50, was Curaro who was credited with a game-best 18 kills, and Biggers, who contributed nine. Jones had a team-high 26 assists, and sophomore Danny McNamara was credited with a team-best 15 digs.

The Golden Eagles return to action on Saturday, February 11 when they travel to Hunter College to face Hunter and Emmanuel College. Live stats will be available here.