Golden Eagles Split Saturday Tri-Match Against Lehman and M’Ville

Written by Andrew Capitelli (SJC-LI Sports Information)

Patchogue, NY| The St. Joseph's College (L.I.) women's volleyball team split a non-conference tri-match at home on Saturday afternoon, topping Lehman College 3-0 in the opener and losing to Manhattanville College 0-3 in the finale. With the split, St. Joseph's sits at 7-8 on the year, while Lehman and Manhattanville boast 7-7 and 10-3 records, respectively.

Lehman played St. Joe's tight in the first set of their match, trading points with the hosts and tying the game at 12, but a Courtney Bocchieri kill put the Golden Eagles ahead 13-12 to kick start a 13-5 run to win the set 25-17.

St. Joe's ran the table in the second frame, jumping out to a 14-6 lead before cruising to a 25-16 win and a 2-0 stranglehold on the match. Lehman set the tone early in the third set, building an early 12-7 lead to apply pressure on the Golden Eagles. The Lightening maintained its lead late, holding a 20-16 advantage, but allowed the Golden Eagles five of the next six points to tie the game at 21. Lehman scored the next two, but St. Joseph's answered with four and clinched the set 26-24 and the match 3-0. Freshman Jenna Beekman scored the set's last point with a service ace.

The Golden Eagles saw offensive contributions from a host of different players in the win, as Heather Ferchland (7 kills), Coutrney Bocchieri (7 kills) and Kiersten Kissinger (8 kills) led the way. Junior Courtney Wickline and sophomore Jessica Monteserrato both had a game-high 15 assists.

Against Manhattanville, St. Joseph's never held a lead, as the Valiants came fast and hard. After building a 14-9 lead, though, the hosts grabbed the next three points in an attempt to rally, but they were stiff-armed by Manhattanville, who went on to win the set 25-17.

The Valiants won the first six points of the second set, and held leads as big as 22-14 before winning 25-17. In the third and final set, Manhattanville jumped out to a 7-2 lead, but St. Joseph's would rally to tie it at 10. The guests would go on to stifle the comeback, winning five of the next six and eight of the next 10 before winning the set 25-13 and the match 3-0.

Manhattanville's Kerry Mackey had a game-high 13 kills, while Ferchland led the Golden Eagles with five. Wickline recorded 18 assists and Beekman and Erin Kelly shared the team-lead in digs with seven.

St. Joseph's will play next on Tuesday, September 29 when they host the College of Staten Island at 7:00 PM inside the Danzi Center. Live stats will be available here.