ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - The Bard College men's volleyball team topped The City College of New York, 3-1 Thursday night, to collect its first victory of the season.
Set scores for the contest were 18-25, 25-20, 25-23 and 25-18.
After struggling to hit the ball in the first set, the Raptors rebounded with three straight solid sets of hitting. They hit .270, .156 and .360, which allowed the hosts to claim wins in the three frames.
The Beavers of CCNY meanwhile, managed to hit .261 in their first set victory, but never got close to that mark the rest of the night.
In set two, Bard jumped out to an early lead, which it held the rest of the set. CCNY cut the deficit to just two points late in the contest at 19-17, before the Raptors rallied off four straight points to put a stranglehold on the set.
The Beavers responded by scoring three straight to make it a 23-20 affair late, but Bard wasn't fazed as it scored the final two points to tie the contest at a set apiece.
In set three, things tightened up between the two squads. The visitors controlled the game late, which forced the Raptors to make a comeback attempt. Down 20-16, Bard rallied to score five of the next six points to make it a 21-21 contest. After a kill by CCNY, the hosts nabbed three straight kills to give them match point at 24-22.
CCNY scored once again to make the final point a crucial one, but an attacking error handed Bard the set, 25-23.
In the fourth and final set, the Beavers came out swinging. They grabbed an early 9-5 advantage and maintained that pace through much of the set, as the visitors held an 18-15 advantage late.
However, from that point on, something just clicked with the Raptors. Following a kill by
Stefan Briggs, the hosts tallied nine straight points with serving control to stun the Beavers, winning the set and match, 25-18.
With the win, the Raptors improved to 1-13 overall, while CCNY fell to 7-2.
Briggs set a new career-high with 19 kills to lead the Raptors on the night. He also added 13 digs.
Tyler Zowaski finished with 15 kills and 10 digs, while
Josh Kim broke his career-high with 35 assists.
Tristan Kozul collected a team-high 18 digs. Radoslav Skular and Jelani Bell-Isaac each tallied three blocks in the win.
On the other side, Carlos Maldonado Madrid (Honduras) powered the Beavers with a game-high 23 kills. Hei Chun Chan (Hong Kong) recorded 35 assists in the losing effort.
Up next for the Raptors is quick break, before they return to action against UVC foe, Stevens Institute of Technology, on March 10th. That contest is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. and you can follow it right here.
