Box Score
The No. 4 seeded Lightning of Lehman College (12-17 Overall, 6-3 CUNYAC) advanced to the semifinals of the 2009 CUNYAC Women's Volleyball Tournament as they defeated the No. 5 seeded Dolphins of the College of Staten Island (12-16 Overall, 5-4 CUNYAC) by scores of 25-18, 25-8, and 25-22 Tuesday evening at the APEX Center in the Bronx. With the victory, Lehman will take on the No. 1 seeded Bearcats of Baruch College in the semifinals from the City College of New York on Friday at 3:00pm.
The Lightning dominated the match in almost every facet. Lehman recorded 37 kills on the evening and hit .250 for the evening, while the Dolphins posted just 15 kills and hit .062. Lehman College also served extremely well, tallying 17 service aces compared to only six for Staten Island, and the Lightning also recorded 29 team assists to the Dolphins' 11.
In the victory for the Lightning, Gerri-Ann Martin led the way as she paced her squad with match-highs of 11 kills to go along with six service aces. Standout setter Lisa Jagdeo also put forth a fine performance as she recorded match-highs of 23 assists and 14 digs, and Jillian Acevedo finished the match with 13 digs. Ashley Meany also helped out with six kills and five service aces. Following the match, Lehman College head coach Wolfgang Lucena gave his thoughts.
“We came into this match playing very good volleyball, and we continued that trend here tonight in front of our home fans,” Lucena said. “This is a special group. I feel as though we have terrific chemistry, and that has only improved as the season has progressed. We played with a tremendous amount of confidence tonight, and hopefully we can carry this momentum into CCNY on Friday afternoon when we play a very tough Baruch squad.”
Despite the loss for CSI, the Dolphins were led by Joanna Tepedino who tallied a team-high six kills to go along with eight digs, while Alba Basha added five kills, nine assists, and eight digs.
The Lightning will now head to CCNY to battle the No. 1 seeded Bearcats of Baruch College in the semifinals of the 2009 CUNYAC Tournament. Match-time is set for 3:00pm. Should Lehman be victorious, the Lightning will advance to the championship game which is slated for 8:00pm that same evening.
