The Lehman College women's volleyball team (5-2 Overall, 2-1 CUNYAC) continued its promising start to the 2008 campaign as the Lightning defeated the Valiants of Manhattanville College by scores of 25-21, 25-15, 19-25, and 26-24 Monday evening at the APEX Center in the Bronx.
The Lightning, after capturing the first two sets of the match, slipped in the third set and allowed the Valiants to stay alive as Manhattanville took the set to force a fourth. In the fourth set, the Valiants held a commanding 24-20 lead on the scoreboard before the Lightning rallied to score six straight points to win the match.
Leading the way for the Lightning was CUNYAC Rookie of the Week Gerri-Ann Martin as she finished the evening with a match-high 12 kills to go along with 16 digs and three service aces. Sophomore outside hitter Jillian Acevedo again showed her leadership as she finished the evening with seven kills and 13 digs, and freshman setter Lisa Jagdeo put together a versatile performance as she finished with 17 assists and 14 digs. As a team, the Lightning recorded 28 kills while Manhattanville totaled 36. Following the match, Head Coach Daniel Skilins had mixed feelings about the victory.
“I give a lot of credit to the Valiants tonight, as they threw everything at us including the kitchen sink,” Skilins said. “That said, I'm proud of the way our team handled adversity, especially towards the end of the fourth set. This is a statement for this team, and I'm extremely excited about the things this unit can accomplish. We don't have much time to enjoy though because we have the Cardinals tomorrow.”
Despise the loss for the Valiants, Makana Gomes put together a tremendous performance as she tallied eight kills to go along with a match-high 23 digs. Christa Nessel added eight kills and nine digs, and Maggie Black totaled seven kills and had 13 digs.
Lehman will return to action tomorrow evening at the APEX Center as the York College Cardinals march into the Bronx for a CUNYAC battle, with match-time scheduled for 6:00pm.
