Riverdale, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Men's Volleyball team split a pair of Skyline Conference matches on Saturday afternoon, dropping NYU-POLY in straight sets by scores of 25-16, 25-16 and 25-20 before falling in a hard fought five set match to New Jersey City University by scores of 25-19, 16-25, 25-27, 31-29 and 12-15. Freshman
Tyler Cucullu (Henderson, Nev.) totaled 34 kills for the Mount in the two matches, including a career-high 21 against the Gothic Knights.
In Saturday's opener the Dolphins took care of the Jays after holding them to a -.042 hitting percentage. The Dolphins totaled 37 kills in the match and hit .284 in the contest to move in conference winning streak to four matches.
Cucullu and
Jacob Johnson (Henderson, Nev.) led the offensive charge for Mount Saint Vincent with 13 kills apiece in the match. Johnson hit .409 in the match for the Mount and added three digs and a service ace. Cucullu hit an efficient .333 for the Dolphins and posted four digs, three aces and three total blocks.
Junior
James DiGiovanni (Bay Shore, N.Y.) handed out 30 assists for Mount Saint Vincent and
T.J. Barczik (Lake Grove, N.Y.) lifted a team-high nine digs.
Timothy Kolodny (Woodland Hills, Calif.) and
Brett Holiday (Stratford, N.J.) each finished with four kills in the match for the Mount.
Saturday's second match featured 40 ties and 11 lead changes with the third and fourth sets featuring 16 and 17 ties, respectively. NJCU closed out the match with 65 kills as a team to 44 for the Dolphins. Each team finished with 8.0 total team blocks.
Sheldon Coure led all players with 25 kills and a .462 hitting percentage for the Gothic Knights and Daque Wilcox and Angel Martinez each adding 10 winners. Jon Diaz lifted 20 digs for NJCU and Gary Preston, Jr. handed out 55 assists and lifted 10 digs. Coure also led the team with five total blocks.
Cucullu reached 20 kills in a match for the first time in his career against NJCU and added six digs, three aces and three blocks. Johnson had a second strong match of the day with 12 more kills and seven digs for Mount Saint Vincent.
DiGiovanni wrapped up the day with a season-high 41 assists against the Gothic Knights and also totaled four digs and four blocks. Barczik picked up 18 digs for the Mount and Holiday added four kills and four blocks. Kolodny lifted seven digs for the Dolphins and put away four kills.
The loss to NJCU is the Mount's first against a league opponent this season and moves it to 7-5 overall on the season and to 4-1 in conference play. The Dolphins will return to the court on March 4 when they welcome Purchase to the Peter Jay Sharp Center. Match time with the Panthers is set for 8:00 p.m.
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