Men's Volleyball Falls in Five Set Thriller

Patchogue, NY| The St. Joseph's College men's volleyball team dropped a non-conference battle in five sets to Baruch College in the Danzi Center on Thursday night.

St. Joseph's slips to 13-4 on the season as the Bearcats improve to 14-9.

SJC was powered by a balanced attack that saw five Golden Eagles finish with double-digit kills. Junior Paul Curaro recorded a team-best 19 kills and two service aces. Junior Kyle Biggers knocked down 14 kills while hitting at a .458 clip. Junior Will Flohr added 13 kills with juniors Matthew Amberge and Matt Cole pitching in with 12 kills apiece.

Senior setter Tyler Jones dished a career-high 62 assists and completed the double-double with 14 digs. Senior libero Danny McNamera collected a team-best 17 digs.

The Bearcats were led by Arlem Zinkin with 22 kills with Nicholas Godino pitching in with 17 kills and a team-high 18 digs. Setters Stallone Shankar and Edward Grinberg recorded 28 and 25 assists, respectively.

The Golden Eagles grabbed an early lead with 25-20 wins in sets one and two before Baruch came back from a 16-12 deficit to stave off elimination with a 25-19 win in set three. The visitors pushed the game to a deciding fifth set with a 25-22 win in the fourth set. SJC took its largest lead, 11-8, in set five but the Bearcats battled back with three unanswered to tie the game at 11. Both sides traded points until an SJC service error and a Zinkin kill claimed the 22-20 Baruch victory.

The Golden Eagles return to Skyline action when they host Sarah Lawrence College and Yeshiva University in a trimatch on Sunday, March 24 starting at 10:00 am.