HUNTER COLLEGE New York, NY----For the first time since 1982, the Brooklyn College women's volleyball team captured the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) Championship by defeating perennial conference power, Hunter College, 3-2 (25-23, 16-25, 25-22, 10-25, 15-9) in the title match. It is the first time the Hawks have been dethroned as conference champs in six seasons. The No. 1 seeded Bulldogs head to the NCAA Division III Tournament with a 16-12 record while No. 3 seeded Hunter moves to 13-13. Brooklyn's NCAA Tournament First Round fate will be announced on Monday, November 8, during the selection show
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"I'm so proud of this team," fourth year Head Coach
Mateusz Gotowicki exclaimed after the victory. "They never got too up or too down during the entire match, and really rose to the occasion when it mattered."
BC senior setter
Ezri Shor was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, finishing with 34 assists to go along with 13 digs.
In an action-packed match, the Bulldogs grabbed the first set after trailing the Hawks 7-2 at the start of the match. The Bulldogs would benefit from a pair of Hawk errors to take a 22-21 lead.
Hunter responded in the second set, jumping out to an early lead and never looking back to tie the match 1-1. The Bulldogs resilience was apparent in the third set; they trailed 20-17 and rallied for 3 straight scores, capped by an ace served up by freshman outside hitter
Sydney Gdanski, tying the set 20-20. Freshman outside hitter
Aleah Rafat gave the Bulldogs the lead for good with one of her 16 kills on the evening. She would be named to the All-Tournament team following the match.
After Hunter took the fourth set in a convincing fashion, Brooklyn regrouped and proved their championship pedigree with a 3-0 start in the deciding fifth set. Hunter would not relinquish the crown easily as the Hawks cut the BC lead down to 3-2 in the next 2 points, but that is as close as they would get. BC continued to dominate the set; it would be Rafat that put away the championship kill set perfectly by Shor.
Brooklyn sophomore outside hitter
Ashley Fung put away a match-high 17 kills while coming up with 13 digs, earning All-Tournament honors.
Hunter was paced by Mariam Outtara's team-high 14 kills and would be named to the All-Tournament team.