Box Score Bronx, NY --- The Brooklyn College Men's Volleyball team defeated the Lightning of Lehman College in the 2013 City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) opener for both teams, in a thrilling five set match, 3-2 (22-25, 25-17, 25-16, 23-25, 15-13), on Wednesday night at the APEX on Lehman's campus.

With the win, the Bulldogs improve to 2-3 overall on the season and 1-0 in the CUNYAC; while the Lightning drop to 3-2 overall on the year and 0-1 in CUNYAC play.

After dropping the first set 25-22, BC fought back to take the next two sets (25-17 and 25-16) to take a 2-1 lead. The Lightning would force a fifth set following a 25-23 win in the fourth set. The Bulldogs would take the fifth and deciding set, 15-13, to earn the hard fought 3-2 victory.

Leading the way for BC was sophomore David Dimitruk, who recorded a double-double with a team-high 12 kills, to go along with 13 digs.  Junior Timothy Hui also registered a double-double with 11 kills and a team-best 27 assists to go with eight digs, while freshman Dukhyun Ko also finished the match with 11 kills, to go along with nine digs. Senior Christopher Valverde helped pace the offense dishing out 22 assists, to go with seven digs, while freshman Ricky Myint was solid defensively racking up a match-best 14 digs.

As a team, the Bulldogs totaled eight total team blocks, as Ko and freshman Michael Boodram each posted three block assists. Boodram also added seven kills while hitting .438. Senior Mateusz Gotowicki also finished the night with three block assists, to go with one block solo. Gotowicki also chipped in with eight kills. Freshman Serhan Akturk totaled four service aces.

For Lehman, Brian Francisco racked up a match-high 21 kills, to go with 11 digs, for the double-double; while Manuel Bonilla finished with 13 kills and nine digs. Louis Colon handed out a match-best 34 assists to go with a team-high 13 digs.

“After we got through our first game jitters our boys loosened up and played a great match,” said head coach Michael Salak. “Lehman battled to the end, but our guys came up with some big plays in key moments. One of which was when Matt Gotowicki stuffed down a ball to win the match. We will be able to learn a lot from this match and at the same time our guys are doing a lot right.”

Brooklyn returns to the court this Saturday, February 16th, as the Bulldogs will travel to Annandale-On-Hudson, NY to take on Bard College. The match is scheduled for a 1:00 pm start time.