Women’s Volleyball Wins Season Opener at Baruch

New York, NY| The St. Joseph's College (L.I.) women's volleyball team (1-0) earned a five-set victory over Baruch College (0-2) on Wednesday night in the opening game of the 2015 season. In a back-and-forth match that saw the Golden Eagles claim the first and third sets—and the Bearcats the second and fourth—the visitors pushed for the 15-12 victory in the fifth set to seal the victory.

Through the opening set, both sides traded points until, with the score 16-16, the Golden Eagles capitalized on Baruch's mistakes and rallied for four-straight points to begin distancing themselves from the Bearcats. Senior Heather Ferchland capped off the set—which ended 25-19—with a service ace.

Baruch responded in the second set, grabbing the lead at 9-8 before cruising to a 25-20 victory. The Bearcats held leads as large as five points on two different occasions.

St. Joseph's scored the first two points of the third set, and later built up an 11-7 lead, but it was Baruch that responded with four straight points to tie the set up at 11. Point-for-point play led the teams to a 18-18 deadlock, but a kill by senior Tiffany Willms springboarded three-straight points for the Golden Eagles, who cruised to a 25-21 set win.

The visitors appeared poised to take the fourth set and the match with it, and even led 12-8 early in the frame. But Baruch would claim seven of the next eight points before winning 25-21 and forcing a deciding set.

After pulling ahead 6-3 and then 7-4. St. Joseph's remained in control. Yet, in much of the same fashion of the match as a whole, the home side pushed back and tied the game three more times. At 10-10, Baruch's Akllah Meulens registered an attack error, which preceded a Crystle Dela Cruz setting error. St. Joseph's would maintain the lead and guide it to a set and match victory.

Ferchland—the reigning Skyline Player of the Year—picked up where she left off last season, firing at .452 efficiency and registering a game-high 17 kills. Junior Courtney Wickline registered a career-high 49 assists and was credited with 11 digs.

Kissinger collected 13 kills and three blocking assists in her St. Joseph's debut, and her former Suffolk County CC teammate Courtney Bocchieri—who also debuted—was credited with eight kills and five blocking assists.

The Golden Eagles return to action on Saturday, September 5 when they travel to Salve Regina for a non-conference tri-match. They'll face Rhode Island College at 12:00 PM and the hosts at 2:00 PM.