Box Score
NEW YORK, N.Y. – The #5 Lehman College men's volleyball team earned a hard-fought victory over #4 John Jay, 3-1, in the Quarterfinals of the CUNY Athletic Conference Championships on Tuesday evening, at the Doghouse. Set scores were 26-24, 21-25, 25-22, and 32-30. The Lightning will battle #1 Baruch in the CUNYAC Semifinals, on Friday at Hunter College, beginning at 6:00 p.m.
 
Junior Jaleel Lino (Punta Gorda, Belize/Toledo Community College) led the way with a match-high 28 kills. He added two service aces and three total blocks. Senior Miguel Gallardo (Bronx, N.Y./Salesian) tallied a double-double with 12 kills and 13 digs. Freshman Emmanuel Ortiz had 36 assists with 11 digs.
 
The Lightning (16-13) trailed 23-20 in the first set, but would respond by scoring four unanswered points, capped off by a kill from Gallardo, to take a 24-23 lead. After John Jay (12-11) tied it up, Lino slammed home a kill to give Lehman its second set-point opportunity. The Lightning clinched the first set, 26-24, thanks to a bad set by John Jay.
 
After the Bloodhounds evened the match at one, Lehman got off to a sluggish start in the third stanza as John Jay jumped out to a 20-14 advantage. Highlighted by two kills from Lino, Lehman scored five points in a row, to narrow the deficit to one. With Lehman trailing 21-19, Lino and freshman Carlos Segura (Bronx, N.Y./Marble Hill) combined for three kills in a row to help the Lightning jump out in front. With the score 23-22 in favor of Lehman, Lino and Gallardo produced back-to-back kills to complete the comeback and give Lehman a 2-1 lead.
 
The fourth set was a wild affair. Lino slammed home two kills in a row to put Lehman at set-point, 24-22.  John Jay scored the next two points to tie it up. From that point on, the Lightning had five more set-point opportunities, while the Bloodhounds had two chances to clinch the fourth stanza and send it to the rubber set.
 
With Lehman trailing 30-29, Lino kept Lehman's chances of victory alive, by producing a kill to tie it up once again. After that, the Bloodhounds committed two consecutive attack errors to send Lehman to the CUNYAC Semifinals for the first time since 2011.
 
"It was a tough game," Lino said. "We kept our composure and we were focused."
 
Segura added six kills and nine digs, while junior Ramon Jimenez (New York, N.Y./George Washington) produced six kills of his own. Senior Ahmad Abugharbieh (Amman, Jordan/Ittihad) had four kills with five digs, while freshman Henry Nunez (Bronx, N.Y./Walton) helped anchor the defense with nine digs.
 
"It was great to see the team come together," Gallardo said. "We waited for this moment."