Women's Volleyball 11/6/2010 12:51:03 AM

Hawks Soar Over Lightning in CUNYAC Semis

Martin Named to All-Tournament Team

Fresh off its quarterfinal win over Brooklyn College, Lehman welcomed the challenge of playing top ranked Hunter College, having targeted both the Hawks and Baruch College as measuring sticks since the season's inception.

Well, if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best and in 2010, Hunter was a perfect 9-0 in the City University of New York Athletic Conference.

But when aiming high, there is potential for a hard fall, and on Friday night, Lehman was the one lying face down after the Hawks' straight sets win in the CUNYAC/EmblemHealth Championship Semifinals.

Perfect record notwithstanding, Lehman came out ready to battle, fighting tooth and nail in the early going. Two kills by Gerri-Ann Martin and one by Vanessa Brown pulled Lehman to within one point at 10-9 after Hunter had built an 8-4 lead. However, a 12-3 Hawks' run helped open up a 22-12 advantage that Hunter would not relinquish in taking the first set 25-18. The seven point margin was actually the closest the Lightning had played the Hawks this season.

After watching Baruch pull out a five set win in the first semifinal match despite dropping its opening set versus the City College of New York, the Lightning had designs of doing the same, building an 8-4 lead behind three kills and an ace by Besa Zabelaj.

Credit Hunter, though, for weathering the emotional push by the Lightning and slowly chipping away. The Hawks eventually fought back to tie the set at 12-12 before Mallory Grubler took over, not only for the remainder of the set, but the rest of the match.

Grubler, the conference leader in kills with 362, showed off her array of talents slamming three kills, an ace and blocking two shots as the Hawks pulled away with a 13-2 run for the 25-14 win.

The Hawks' junior outside hitter continued to wreak havoc in the third set with seven kills, a block and an ace as the Hawks cruised to the 25-8 win to advance to the finals. Grubler's performance – 19 kills and 16 digs – came as no surprise to Lehman coach Wolfgang Lucena.

“We knew she was going to be a problem for us,” said Lucena. “She's a really good player who is dangerous everywhere.”

For the Lightning, Martin contributed nine kills and 12 digs in the losing effort, while Zabelaj notched eight kills and 11 digs and Jennifer Winkler added 10 digs. Martin's all-around play also earned her a spot on the All-Tournament team.

The loss caps a 17-14 season for the Lightning who bow out in the CUNYAC Championship Semifinals for the second straight year. All that's left now is to look ahead to 2011 when the core of the team should be returning.

“I'm really proud of my team – all of them,” said Lucena. “We were ready as a team but it didn't work out for us. Next season we just have to keep pushing and hope to earn that No. 1 seed.”

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