Feb. 24, 2011

Box Score

Playing Brooklyn College for the second time this season, the Lehman Lightning men's volleyball team produced a performance that was a complete 180 from the first time the two schools met.

The first encounter between the two, a 3-1 Bulldogs win on February 5, was an extremely tight affair with two of the first three set scores ending in Brooklyn's favor 27-25, 27-29 and 27-25 before Coach Trish Morris' crew closed out the match 25-20.

On Thursday night, the match was nowhere near that close as the Lightning jumped all over the Bulldogs in the first set, racing out to an 18-8 lead behind five kills from Nate Martin. R.J. LeBlanc added two consecutive service aces to cap the 25-14 initial set victory.

The second set was rather close at the start with Brooklyn trailing by only two points, 8-6, after Luis Colon's attack error. However, the Lightning ripped off a 9-0 run with Manuel Bonilla providing a steady hand at the service line. Martin and Colon each added two kills during the stretch as Lehman took a commanding 17-6 lead. To its credit, Brooklyn then produced an 11-4 run of its own to creep to within 21-17 on Mohamed Taman's block. But Lehman was able to hold off the Bulldogs as the Lightning combined two Brooklyn errors with a kill and block from LeBlanc to score the final four points and take the set 25-17.

Set number three was Brooklyn's best as the visitors clawed their way to a 15-14 advantage with some strong play around the net that included blocks by Shlivko, David Choy and Mateusz Gotowicki. It would be Brooklyn's final lead of the night, though, as Lehman took eight of the next 10 points for a 22-17 advantage.

Two points from victory at 23-20, Brooklyn's Timothy Hui made perhaps the play of the match when he crashed full speed into the back wall of Lehman's APEX Center in keeping a ball alive, an effort that did not force him from the game despite leaving him temporarily dazed. The Bulldogs eventually lost the point, but the hustle displayed by Hui received a hearty ovation from those in attendance.

The good feelings towards Hui promptly ended on the next point, however, as Miguel Gallardo fired a rocket-like serve right at the Brooklyn freshman. Hui dug the ball but teammate Duong Thai could not put it over, giving Lehman the 25-20 win.

With Thursday's win, the Lightning improved to 8-7 on the season (5-4 CUNYAC). Martin led the hosts in kills with 12 while Gallardo compiled a game high 30 assists. For the game the Lightning was strong around the net as it compiled six blocks, three by LeBlanc.

Lehman will travel to Queens for its next match against York College on Tuesday.