BROOKLYN, New York ----- Coming into the Battle-of-Brooklyn Tri-Match, the Brooklyn College women's volleyball team looked to bounce back after their winning streak came to an end. In the first game of the tri-match, the Bulldogs would fall to the Pratt Institute Cannoneers in three hard fought sets [20-25, 23-25, 20-25] that could have gone either way. In the second game, Brooklyn would bounce back against the St. Joseph's University-Brooklyn Bears, sweeping them in the process [25-19, 25-22, 25-6] and getting back on track.
In the aftermath of the tri-match, the Brooklyn College Bulldogs (5-6) get back on track on the road with a game in the win column before coming home on Tuesday, September 24 at 6pm against the Farmingdale State College Rams.
Game 1 vs Pratt
Ahead of them was a team of Pratt Institute Cannoneers, who the Brooklyn College Bulldogs have had a split series with historically, each having three games a piece. The seventh game in their history would end up going down to the wire.
The first set would start with the Bulldogs going up early in the set, but the Cannoneers would go a run of their own to catch up and take the lead. Back and forth they would go in a set that featured eleven lead changes, none more pivotal than late in set number one. The
Amra Mulic to
Aleah Rafat connection seemed to be the assist-to-kill combination that seemed to be most successful, tying the game at 20-20. With the score tied for the tenth time, a service error would ignite the Cannoneers to go on a 5-0 run to take the first set 25-20.
With Pratt leading in the second set 24-17, seemingly running away with the set, Brooklyn would go on an impressive 6-0 run, motivated by a kill from
Kela Duncan, to make it 24-23. Duncan would have 6 kills for the game, five of those coming in this set, as well as 1 block assist. Despite the scare installed by Brooklyn, Pratt would literally kill any chances of a comeback, putting it away 25-23.
After the third set featured a Mulic-to-Rafat play to tie up the game at 15-15, they would take a 16-15 lead on a service ace. Unfortunately, it was the last lead of the day, as Pratt would go on a 5-0 run that would eventually secure the lead and the set 25-20.
Amra Mulic would end the game with 17 assists, to lead all Bulldogs, as well as 2 service aces and 7 digs. Meanwhile,
Aleah Rafat would once again lead the attack with 13 kills, to go along with 1 block assist, 4 receptions and 7 digs.
The Pratt Institute Cannoneers (3-5) now have the all-time lead on the Bulldogs, getting a much needed win, while the Bulldogs would be losing their second in a row up to this point.
Game 2 vs St. Joe's-Brooklyn
On paper, the St. Joseph's University-Brooklyn Bears looked to be an even tougher opponent due to their overall record showing a winning record.
The Bulldogs seemingly had a comfortable lead, but the Bears would go on a ew small 3-0 runs to catch up and make it 22-19. However, thanks to an attack error and two kills, including the set point by
Ayatallah Elkotby from Mulic, the Bulldogs would take it 25-19. Elkotby would have 4 kills, 2 assists, and 3 blocks.
St,Joseph's-Brooklyn would be up 21-15 late in the second set, but Brooklyn would respond out of nowhere to go on a 6-0 run and tie the game. Even though St. Joe's would retake the lead, a couple of attack errors and had other plans, as Brooklyn would take it 25-22.
In the third set, fatigue would begin to be a factor, as the Bulldogs would take full advantage with an early 9-0 run to make it 9-1. They would never look back as they would take the set in an astonishing 25-6 score.
St.Joseph's-University-Brooklyn Bears (7-4) would lose in shocking fashion, their seventh in a row to the Bulldogs.
