The Lehman College women's volleyball team saw their season come to a close but not before putting forth a tremendous effort in the semifinal round of the 2008 CUNYAC Women's Volleyball Tournament. The Lightning put together their heartiest performance of the year before falling to the number one seeded Beavers of the City College of New York by scores of 25-12, 27-25, and 25-18. Lehman finished its season at 15-12 overall (6-3 CUNYAC), while the Beavers improved to 22-11 on the season (9-0 CUNYAC).
The first set was completely one-sided as City College took a commanding 18-5 lead in the first set. The Beavers finished strong, taking the stanza by a margin of 25-12. The second set was tightly contested with the Beavers taking the game 27-25. The Lightning gave it all they had yet still came up short despite the stellar play of freshman Gerri-Ann Martin who recorded 17 kills and 11 digs in the game. Lehman ran out of gas in the third set as they were defeated by a score of 25-18 to complete the Beavers' sweep. Freshman setter Lisa Jagedo tallied 19 assists for the Lightning, while sophomore Jillian Acevedo posted a team-high 18 digs. Despite the defeat, Lehman Head Coach Daniel Skilins still believes that next season will be a bright one for Lehman volleyball.
"The future is bright for our team with our returning players and our new players coming in,” Skilins said. “We have entirely different personnel from last year which is ok because as a whole, I'm happy and proud of our ladies.”
As for CCNY, they advance to the women's volleyball final for the second consecutive year under head coach Krishna Dass. The impressive play of junior outside hitter Floriana Garo, a two CUNYAC Player of the Year and sophomore Melissa Blass propelled the Beavers as they tallied 16 kills and 10 kills respectively. Garo also led the squad with 12 digs and freshman setter Alexis Kinsman had a whopping 34 assists. According to Dass, it wasn't an easy feat.
"Lehman played a great game and we made a lot of errors, we got a little too comfortable and gave them confidence and I give them all the credit in the world,” he said. “They gave us a heck of a fight.”
The Lightning's season can be classified as a success as the team improved its win total by seven games after recording just eight victories a season ago. In 2007, Lehman was bounced in the first round by the College of Staten Island at the Sports and Recreation Center, but Lehman returned the favor in 2008 by downing CSI 3-1 in the CUNYAC quarterfinals this season. With a fine combination of experienced veterans staying on with the squad and with new recruits expected to enter the fray, the Lightning will hope to continue to move forward towards a conference title.
In the other semifinal match, the Hawks defeated the Bearcats in three sets to advance to the championship game. Then, in a much-anticipated rematch of their classic regular season confrontation, Hunter College turned back CCNY in four sets to capture the 2008 CUNYAC women's volleyball championship.
