Volleyball Enjoys Successful Weekend

Patchogue, N.Y. – The St. Joseph's women's volleyball team (15-5, Skyline 4-2) celebrated a successful weekend at the St. Joseph's invitational. The women went 3-1, with wins over CCNY (9-16), Sarah Lawrence(10-11), and York(6-23). Their lone loss came against the Engineers of WPI(15-6).
 The Lady Eagles split day one with a win over York, 3-0, and loss to WPI, 0-3. In the first match against York, freshman Erika Magnuson (Miller Place, N.Y. / Miller Place) led all players with 15 points including eight service aces. Sophomore co-captain Julianne Tierney (Bethpage, N.Y. / Bethpage) had 24 assists as St. Joseph's cruised with victories of 25-13, 25-17, 25-21.
 The next match proved much tougher as the Eagles played arguably the best team at the tournament in WPI. WPI won every match and only lost one in set to Oneonta St. St. Joseph's was resilient losing the first set 26-28, but WPI was too overwhelming and took the next two 25-12, 25-15. Freshman Heather Ferchland (Seldon, N.Y. / Centereach) led all players with 9.5 points and eight kills. Ashley Larrea (Islip, N.Y. / Patchogue-Medford) played excellent defense with 13 digs and  Tierney again led all players with 20 assists.
 Day two proved to be more successful for St. Joseph's. The Eagles started the day off with a 3-0 victory against Sarah Lawrence with scores of 25-14, 25-20, and 25-23. Heather Ferchland again had a strong performance with 20.5 points from 18 kills on 28 total attacks. Sophomore Melissa Garibaldi (Seaford, N.Y. / Island Trees) and freshman Tiffany Willms (Centereach, N.Y. / Centereach) each added six kills.
 The Lady Eagles finished off the Invitational with a 3-0 win over CCNY in straight sets, 25-19, 25-19, and 25-18. It was a strong all-around performance from St. Joseph's as Ferchland, Willms and Manuela Palacio (Islip, N.Y. / Islip) all had 11 points and double-digit kills. Tierney had an eye-popping 42 assists and Larrea solidified the back row with 19 digs.
 Next up for the women is a critical Tri-Match this weekend against the Privateers of Maritime (1-15, Skyline 1-5) and Mount Saint Vincent (9-10, Skyline 3-4) at SUNY Maritime. St. Joseph's needs wins to keep pace with Farmingdale St. (9-7, Skyline 3-1) and stay ahead of NYU-Poly (8-21, Skyline 3-3).