The Albertus Magnus men's volleyball team defeated CCNY 3-2 on Friday night in a close five-set match in New Haven. Tonight's scores were 31-33, 25-23, 25-21, 21-25, 15-13.
Albertus opened the first set with seven unanswered points before CCNY got on the board. The Beavers battled back to make the score 15-13 before the Falcons extended their lead to 19-14. Again, CCNY pushed back, eventually tying the contest at 23. The first set was tied nine times late in the frame before CCNY rattled off two consecutive points to take a 33-31 victory. The Falcons missed eight serves in the first set, giving the Beavers eight free points.
In the second set, the score was much closer. Albertus was able to push out to a 15-10 lead and then 18-13 before a 4-0 run by CCNY cut the Falcons' lead to one at 18-17. After more exchanging of points, the Falcons broke a 23-point tied score and used a Douglas DeSousa (Danbury, Conn.) kill and a block by Joshua Turner (Trumbull, Conn.) to secure the set victory.
Albertus won the third set 25-21 led by eight kills from Rojas.
In the fourth set, CCNY took control earlier, pushing out to an 8-2 lead before Albertus battled back into the game. The Falcons cut the score to one at 17-16 before the Beavers went on a 6-1 run to take a 23-17 late in the frame. Albertus battled back with strong serving from DeSousa. CCNY added to their lead to take a 25-21 victory.
Albertus opened the fifth set with a 5-2 lead before CCNY tied the set at five. The Beavers led 10-7 before Albertus pushed back into the set to take a 14-12 advantage before recording the victory.
Raul Rojas Rivera (Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) led all players with 23 kills in 55 attempts, while he added 15 digs and eight blocks. Raymond Torres (Cantano, Puerto Rico) added a match-high 17 digs to go along with 15 assists.
DeSousa dished out 40 assists on the night to go along with eight kills, while Glenn Johnson (Newington, Conn.) tallied 19 kills for a .264 hitting percentage.
Turner added 10 block assists and two solo blocks to go along with four kills for a stellar performance at the net for the Falcons.
Derell Williams had 18 kills for CCNY to lead the way, while Anthony Reyes handed out 48 assists. Three CCNY players tallied double-digit digs with Oleksandr Boychukk leading the way with 17.
The Falcons will host a league tri-match on Sunday beginning at 11:00 a.m. The Falcons will face sixth-ranked Rivier first and then Emmanuel College at 3:00 p.m.
