NEW YORK, N.Y. – The #3 seeded Lehman College women's volleyball team dropped a hard-fought, 3-0 decision to #2 Baruch College on Friday afternoon, in the Semifinal Round of the 2014 CUNY Athletic Conference Women's Volleyball Championships, played at the ARC Arena on the Baruch College campus. Set scores were 25-11, 25-16, 25-16.

Lehman now ends the season at 13-14, while Baruch moves to 14-17.

This was the first of two Semifinal matches to be played today, prior to the Championship match. #1 Hunter College will face #4 City College in the second Semifinal, at 6:00 p.m.

In the first set, Baruch jumped out quickly, grabbing an 8-1 lead. Baruch continued to hit well, and won the set, 25-16.

"This was a new experience for us," said second year Head Coach Elvis Rodriguez. "We're such a young team, and we took a little too much time to get involved in the game."

In the second set, the Lightning started strong, and knotted the score at 8-8 on a kill by senior Julia Mercado (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman). From there, however, Baruch seized control with a 7-1 run, taking a 15-9 lead. But another kill from Mercado broke that run, giving Lehman more confidence. The lead swelled to 19-11 before Lehman took a timeout to regroup. Mercado responded with a kill, but Baruch was too much, and claimed the set, 25-16.

"I tried to rise to the occasion," stated Mercado. "I worked my heart out, and I have no regrets."

Moving to the third set, the Lightning stayed strong, and a solo block by senior Cari English (Yonkers, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman) brought Lehman back to within two points, at 6-4. Moments later, junior Imani Dubois had a kill to bring the score to 9-8, before another Dubois kill made the score 11-9 for Baruch. The comeback continued, as freshman Lindsay Pantaleon (New York, N.Y./George Washington) served up an ace, and suddenly Lehman was back within one, at 11-10. From there, the veteran Bearcats rattled off six straight points before Dubois recorded her fourth kill of the match. Baruch extended that lead to 20-12, before a Lehman timeout broke the momentum. English recorded another kill to make the score 22-16, but it was not enough.

"Defensively, we played well," stated Rodriguez. "Baruch hit well, but we were always in position and able to return the ball." Lehman had 55 digs on the day, led by Mercado's 11 and Pantaleon's ten. Freshman Lizette Medina (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman) and sophomore Jona Kerluku (Ozone Park, N.Y./CTEA) followed with nine digs apiece, while Dubois added eight.

For the game, Mercado led the Lehman attack with ten kills on 50 attempts. English finished with five kills, and three total blocks, while Dubois added four kills while dishing eight assists.