Nov. 1, 2011

Box Score

BRONX, N.Y. - The Lehman Lightning women's volleyball team is moving on to the semifinals of the CUNYAC Championships following its 3-0 (25-14, 25-12, 25-14) win over the No. 6 seeded College of Staten Island Dolphins on Tuesday night at the APEX.

Lehman will square off against No. 2 Baruch, who swept the No. 7 seeded York Cardinals 3-0 (25-9, 25-6, 25-11).

Entering Tuesday's match,  the Lightning looked to have the advantage, boasting a 12-13 (5-3 CUNYAC) record to the Dolphins 4-17 (3-5 CUNYAC) mark, and it wasted no time establishing itself as the favorite by racing out to a quick 6-0 lead.  The Lightning continued to pour it on, eventually taking a 21-6 lead before the Dolphins mounted a brief surge that narrowed Lehman's final margin to 25-11.

Staten Island took its first lead of the match to open the second set, running off three straight points before Lehman kicked things into gear.  Behind the serving of Gerri Ann Martin and Jo-Marie Aquino, the Lightning ripped off a 14-4 run to take a 15-7 lead.  Aquino's line drive serves accounted for three service aces during the stretch.  Several points later it was Jasmine Bermudez' chance to step to the service line, where she promptly settled in, serving up three aces to help Lehman string together six straight points and take a 23-10 lead.  Andrea Vasquez' kill ended things at 25-12 in Lehman's favor.

The third set proved to be Staten Island's best of the match, but it wasn't good enough as Lehman cruised to the 25-14 win with Martin and Aquino once again proving formidable at the service line with six combined aces.

For the match Lehman blasted 19 service aces, with Aquino slamming seven.  Martin and Shari Quiles tied for the team lead with eight kills, while Bermudez used pinpoint passing to ring up 25 assists.

Thursday's semifinal will commence at 4 p.m. at City College of New York.  Should the Lightning win, it will play the championship game at 8 p.m.