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Brooklyn Buried in Bronx by Lehman
Box
Score
Playing Brooklyn College for the second time this season, the
Lehman Lightning men's volleyball team produced a performance that
was a complete 180 from the first time the two schools met.
The first encounter between the two, a 3-1 Bulldogs win on
February 5, was an extremely tight affair with two of the first
three set scores ending in Brooklyn's favor 27-25, 27-29 and 27-25
before Coach Trish Morris' crew closed out the match 25-20.
On Thursday night, the match was nowhere near that close as the
Lightning jumped all over the Bulldogs in the first set, racing out
to an 18-8 lead behind five kills from Nate
Martin. R.J.
LeBlanc added two consecutive service aces to cap the
25-14 initial set victory.
The second set was rather close at the start with Brooklyn
trailing by only two points, 8-6, after Luis
Colon's attack error. However, the Lightning ripped off a
9-0 run with Manuel
Bonilla providing a steady hand at the service line.
Martin and Colon each added two kills during the stretch as Lehman
took a commanding 17-6 lead. To its credit, Brooklyn then produced
an 11-4 run of its own to creep to within 21-17 on Mohamed Taman's
block. But Lehman was able to hold off the Bulldogs as the
Lightning combined two Brooklyn errors with a kill and block from
LeBlanc to score the final four points and take the set 25-17.
Set number three was Brooklyn's best as the visitors clawed their
way to a 15-14 advantage with some strong play around the net that
included blocks by Shlivko, David Choy and Mateusz Gotowicki. It
would be Brooklyn's final lead of the night, though, as Lehman took
eight of the next 10 points for a 22-17 advantage.
Two points from victory at 23-20, Brooklyn's Timothy Hui made
perhaps the play of the match when he crashed full speed into the
back wall of Lehman's APEX Center in keeping a ball alive, an
effort that did not force him from the game despite leaving him
temporarily dazed. The Bulldogs eventually lost the point, but the
hustle displayed by Hui received a hearty ovation from those in
attendance.
The good feelings towards Hui promptly ended on the next point,
however, as Miguel
Gallardo fired a rocket-like serve right at the Brooklyn
freshman. Hui dug the ball but teammate Duong Thai could not put it
over, giving Lehman the 25-20 win.
With Thursday's win, the Lightning improved to 8-7 on the season
(5-4 CUNYAC). Martin led the hosts in kills with 12 while Gallardo
compiled a game high 30 assists. For the game the Lightning was
strong around the net as it compiled six blocks, three by
LeBlanc.
Lehman will travel to Queens for its next match against York
College on Tuesday.
