Volleyball Splits from Skyline Qaud Match with a Win and Loss

Newburgh, N.Y. — The Lady Golden Eagles (11-9, 3-2 Skyline) left the Mt. St. Mary's College Skyline Quad match on Saturday with both a win and a loss.  SJC dominated the Mt. St. Vincent Dolphins (4-15, 3-3 Skyline), easily taking the match 3-1, but fell to Mt. St. Mary's Knights (9-15, 4-2 Skyline), who proved to be too much to handle for the visiting Eagles.

The Eagles began their day by taking the first two sets of their match against the Dolphins, 25-16 and 25-19, respectively. Mt. St. Vincent showed some signs of life in the third set, apparently feeling the pressure of SJC's initial triumphs, and stole the third match 25-21. Spurred by this, the Lady Eagles refused to let the Dolphins achieve any sort of lead in the fourth set, ultimately taking the game 25-14 and with it, the match.

SJC's win over CMSV was certainly a team effort as everyone seemed to do her part.  Tiffany Willms (Centereach, N.Y./ Centereach) dominated all aspects of the game, slamming down an impressive 14 kills in addition to her 14 digs and one assist. Heather Ferchland (Selden, N.Y./ Centereach) logged 12 kills, while Melissa Garibaldi (Seaford, N.Y./ Island Trees) and Erin Kelly (Ridge, N.Y./ Longwood) each finished with 10.  Julianne Tierney (Bethpage, N.Y./ Bethpage) had 36 assists and Taylor Ahmed (Farmingville, N.Y./ Sachem North) led defensive efforts with 19 digs.

Despite the Knight's ultimate 25-23 victory, SJC actually held the lead for most of the first set and only fell to the home team after a close back-and-forth fight. The next and final two sets proved to be more challenging as the wind was effectively knocked out from beneath the Eagles' wings. The Knights swept the match 3-0.

Ferchland finished with an unwonted five kills while Willms came away with three. Tierney managed 20 assists while Ahmed had nine digs.

The Eagles will compete again in a 7 p.m. match on Wednesday at the College of Staten Island.