Box  Score

New York, NY --- The Brooklyn College Men's Volleyball team dropped a hard fought battle earlier tonight on the road at Nat Holman Gymnasium against the City College of New York (CCNY) Beavers in a key City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) match-up for seeding purposes in the upcoming CUNYAC Men's Volleyball Championships. The Beavers topped the Bulldogs in four sets, 3-1 (25-20, 25-20, 18-25, 32-30).

With the loss, BC drops to 8-13 overall and 4-9 in the CUNYAC; while CCNY improves to 7-21 and an identical 4-9 conference mark, as both teams are now currently tied for fifth in the league.

The teams have split their season series, as Brooklyn got the better of CCNY, 3-1 (17-25, 25-10, 25-16, 25-23), back on March 27th at the West Quad Center.

Senior Keiran Halton led BC with a team-high 12 kills, while classmate Duong Thai and freshman David Dimitruk each totaled 11 kills apiece. Dimitruk also registered a match-high 14 digs to record a double-double. Junior David Rafailov added 10 kills on the night, as Brooklyn posted a .276 (57 kills-22 errors-127 total attacks) hitting percentage as a team. Senior Gene Tom helped to pace the offense with match-best 48 assists, while sophomore Timothy Hui added 12 digs. Sophomore Alexander Shlivko chipped in with four service aces and eight kills.

For CCNY, Brandon Reeves notched a match-high 21 kills, while Nick Siriban and Derrell Williams also finished with double-digit kills, with 12 and 11, respectively. Anthony Reyes dished out 44 assists, while Rubin Taipi contributed with nine digs and eight kills. As a team, the Beavers hit a solid .311 (55 kills-17 errors-122 total attacks) hitting percentage for the match. CCNY also totaled 10 total team blocks on the night.

The home Beavers took the first two sets by identical 25-20 scores to go up 2-0. CCNY used strong hitting performances to propel them to the victories, as the Beavers hit .333 (11K-3E-24TA) in the first set and .455 (13K-3E-22TA) in the second set.

The Bulldogs would not go down lightly; however, as BC would battle back to take the third set by a score of 25-18. Trailing 7-6 early in the set, Brooklyn would use a 4-0 run go up 10-7. The Bulldogs would never trail in the set again; as BC would go on to take the set 25-18. Brooklyn used a stellar hitting performance of their own in the set to earn the win, as the visitors hit .324 (16K-5E-34TA) to force a fourth set.

The fourth set featured the most exciting action on the night, as the teams battled back-and-forth. Brooklyn would take an early 6-2 advantage in the set, but would be unable to put the Beavers away, as CCNY would chip away at their deficit and eventually regain the lead at 12-11. From there on out, both teams would exchange points down the stretch as neither team was able to pull away from the other.

Following a service error that gave the Bulldogs a 30-29 lead and their sixth match point opportunity, the Beavers rattled off three straight points to take the 32-30 set and match victory.

“Credit to CCNY,” said head coach Michael Salak. “They made some good adjustments since we last played them and their guys played better. Our guys played well and gave them a run for their money.”

Brooklyn will complete its 2012 regular season on Wednesday, April 4th, as the Bulldogs will travel to conference rival John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The match is scheduled for a 6:00 pm start time. BC will look to sweep the season series again John Jay, as the Bulldogs defeated the Bloodhounds 3-0 (25-10, 25-20, 25-14) back on March 6th at the West Quad Center.