Riverdale, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Men's Volleyball squad split a pair of Skyline Conference matches on Saturday, falling in four sets to Ramapo by scores of 20-25, 19-25, 25-22, 22-25 and then rebounding for a hard fought 21-25, 25-20, 18-25, 28-26, 15-5 triumph over New Jersey City University. Freshman
Jacob Johnson (Henderson, Nev.) combined for 42 kills in the two matches and
James DiGiovanni (Bay Shore, N.Y.) handed out a total of 71 assists.
After dropping the first two sets of the day to visiting Ramapo, the Mount rallied for a third set win against the Roadrunners. The Dolphins turned a 13-12 deficit into a 16-13 lead with four straight points. Two kills from
Brett Holiday (Stratford, N.J.) and a service aces from
Timothy Kolodny (Woodland Hills, Calif.) sparked the run for the Dolphins.
The Mount would put together a second 4-0 run in the late stages of the set to move in front 22-16 and would not let Ramapo closer than two points the rest of the frame. Johnson accounted for half of the Mount's points in the run with kills.
After getting back to within a set, Mount Saint Vincent jumped out to a 10-5 lead in the fourth with kills from Holiday, Johnson and Kolodny. Ramapo answered with an 11-4 spurt to take the lead for good in the set. The run included a 4-0 run that was aided by three Dolphin miscues.
Johnson finished the match as the only player with double-figures in kills with a match-high 19. He added a career-high 11 digs on the way to his first career double-double.
Tyler Cucullu (Henderson, Nev.) and Holiday each finished with eight kills, while Kolodny added seven kills, 13 digs and a pair of service aces.
DiGiovanni handed out 30 assists for the Dolphins and matched the team-high with 13 digs. DiGiovanni and
Reginald Owens (Staten Island, N.Y.) each recorded three total blocks with
T.J. Barczik (Lake Grove, N.Y.) lifting 12 digs.
Andrew Balint led all players in the match for Ramapo with 33 assists and Nick Hrehovcik lifting a match-high 17 digs. Ahjon Petty and Hrehovick each posted a team-high nine kills in the match for Ramapo.
In the second match of the day, Mount Saint Vincent went to five sets with the Gothic Knights for the second time this season. NJCU pulled in front 2-1 after a 25-18 third set win in which it hit .304, but the Dolphins rallied to post a 28-26 win to knot the match and an impressive 15-5 fifth set win where NJCU posted just one kill and hit -.308.
After NJCU tied the fourth set at 17-17, the Dolphins used a 6-1 run to move in front 23-18. Kills from Cucullu, DiGiovanni and Johnson sparked the rally. NJCU would jump back in front 25-24 with a 6-1 run, but back-to-back kills from Johnson and an ace keyed a 4-1 spurt to end the frame and even the match.
In the fifth set, NJCU jumped in front 5-3 on a Mount Saint Vincent attack error but would not score again in the contest. The Dolphins scored the last 12 points of the set, including three kills from Johnson. The Gothic Knights would account for five of the 12 Dolphin points with errors.
Johnson posted a career-high 23 kills in the victory for the Dolphins and hit an efficient .400. He added seven digs, two aces and a pair of blocks to the win. Cucullu finished with 13 winners for Mount Saint Vincent to go along with five aces, five digs and three blocks.
Kolodny closed out a strong day with six kills against NJCU, 11 digs and three blocks. Holiday posted seven blocks and five kills and Barczik picked up 11 digs for the Mount. DiGiovanni handed out 41 assists and contributed three kills.
Mount Saint Vincent posted 53 kills in the match and held an 8-5 edge in service aces. The Dolphins won the battle at the net with a slim 10-9 edge in total team blocks.
With the split on Saturday, Mount Saint Vincent moves to 12-9 overall on the season and to 6-4 in Skyline Conference play. The Dolphins will return to action on April 2 when it hosts NYU-POLY. Match time at the Peter Jay Sharp Center is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
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