#3 Women’s Volleyball Set to Face #2 USMMA in Skyline Semis

Written by Andrew Capitelli (SJC-LI Sports Information)

Kings Point, NY| For the sixth season in a row, the St. Joseph's College (L.I.) women's volleyball team reaches the Skyline Conference semifinal round after defeating sixth-seeded College of Mt. St. Vincent in first round action inside the Danzi Center on Tuesday evening.

The third-seeded Golden Eagles collide with #2 U.S. Merchant Marine Academy on Thursday evening (7:00 PM) in Kings Point, NY for the right to play in the conference final this coming Saturday. Top-seeded Farmingdale and #4 Sage play in the other semifinal on Thursday.

USMMA played host to SJC back on October 8 and earned a 3-1 victory, but it was a tight affair. After dropping the first two sets by the score of 25-21 and 25-15, respectively, the Golden Eagles earned a 25-21 win in the third set to force a fourth, but the Mariners edged the guests 25-19 to win the match.

Senior Courtney Bocchieri led SJC with 15 kills in that match and sophomore Danielle Senecal collected a season-best 26 digs. USMMA's Dominique Pope led all players with 17 kills in the match.

Of note is that the Golden Eagles were credited with 42 kills in comparison with USMMA's 44 in the loss. An SJC side that has averaged 47.3 kills over the last three matches may again find attacking success on Thursday evening.

Players to Watch

Coming into the match, Bocchieri leads the Skyline Conference in attacking percentage (.289) and Pope ranks third in kills-per-set (3.67). SJC's Senecal is second in digs-per-set (4.20) and USMMA's Kappas sits comfortably in first in assists-per-set (9.34).

Both live video and live stats will be available for the match here and here. Be sure to return to sjcgoldeneagles.com after the match for the full postgame recap.