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Late Lehman Charge Falls Short Against NJCU
Box
Score
For the second game in a row the Lightning tempted fate by falling
behind, only this time it was not able to pull off the comeback,
losing in five sets (25-18, 25-16, 18-25, 24-26, 15-12) to visiting
New Jersey City University on Thursday night at the APEX.
Unlike its last match against York where Lehman had the luxury of
a 1-0 set lead when it made its second set comeback to grab hold of
the match, the Lightning allowed the Gothic Knights to build a 2-0
set lead before mounting its late rally.
New Jersey City looked as if it was going to dispatch of the
Lightning in straight sets, building a 7-1 lead in the third. But
senior R.J.
LeBlanc led the steady climb back, contributing four
kills and assisting on the game-tying block along with Shane
Gafoor to square things at 15-15. LeBlanc's shared block
was part of a 13-3 run to close out the 25-18 set win by
Lehman.
In the fourth set, freshman Miguel
Gallardo took center stage. The Bronx native stepped to
the service line with the score tied 11-11 and did not leave until
the Lightning had recorded six straight points, three of which came
on his aces, to take a 17-11 lead. Gallardo then contributed two
kills with the Gothic Knights creeping back into the game, the last
of which gave Lehman a 24-20 advantage. Four straight points by
NJCU, though, tied the game at 24 before the Lightning escaped with
the 26-24 win on two attacking errors by the visitors.
Lehman gained the upper hand initially in the deciding set, first
building a 5-2 lead on a kill by Victor
Garcia, and then an 8-6 advantage on a putaway by Luis
Colon. From that point on neither team could gain much
distance until back-to-back kills from Rich Boyle and Kenny Lisk
pushed NJCU in front 13-11. The Lightning was able to pull within
13-12 on a kill from LeBlanc before NJCU managed the next two
points for the 15-12 win.
Despite the loss, the Lightning received excellent games from
LeBlanc, who recorded a team-high 22 kills, Gallardo (35 assists, 6
service aces, 10 digs, 7 kills), Colon (22 digs, 3 blocks, 2
blocking assists) and Nate
Martin (11 kills, 13 digs).
The defeat drops Lehman back to .500 at 9-9 in advance of
Saturday's City University of New York Athletic Conference
multi-match which will pit the Lightning against the New York City
College of Technology as well as conference power Baruch
College.
