Riverdale, NY - After a long stretch of matches on the road, the University of Mount Saint Vincent's men's volleyball team finally returned to their home court in the Sharp Center on Monday evening for a conference match up against St. Joseph's University-Long Island. The Dolphins unfortunately fell to the Golden Eagles, the reigning Skyline champions, in three sets by the scores of 25-17, 25-15, and 25-12.
UMSV was resilient in the first set, keeping things close early on, capitalizing on errors from SJU and stringing together strong kills from freshman
Terrence Short and graduate student
James Rose. After forcing back-to-back attack errors, UMSV saw a brief 11-10 lead, which they later reclaimed at 13-12 with another kill from Short. However, the Golden Eagles proved to be too much to overcome, breaking open the set as the Dolphins struggled to regain control.
UMSV was able to keep up with their opponent early in the second with the help of sophomore
Yestro Luciano Jr. and graduate student
Felix Paulino. SJU would go on multiple runs throughout the set, putting it out of the Dolphins' reach. The Golden Eagles continued their dominant play in the third, jumping to an early 9-4 lead and UMSV could not find a response.
Rose led the way with 10 kills and 4 digs, while Short finished with 8 kills and 3 digs and senior
Olatomiwa Ibitayo added 4 kills and 2 digs. Paulino finished with 18 assists and 4 digs, meanwhile senior
Carlos Martinez added 3 assists and 4 digs.
The Dolphins will play in another conference match on Wednesday, March 19, at Sarah Lawrence College.