BROOKLYN, New York ----- Coming into the both the start of the season and the home opener, the Brooklyn College women's volleyball team looked to start of the season on the right foot against the Maritime College Privateers. The Privateers came into the borough with an undefeated record, finding themselves with back-to-back victories to start off the season. Despite the pressure faced by the Bulldogs, especially when trailing during the game, they were able to fight their way to victory in five sets [10-25, 25-18, 16-25, 28-26, 15-13]. The Brooklyn College Bulldogs (1-0) start the season off the right way against strong competition, while the Maritime College Privateers (2-1) suffer their first loss of the season after a hard fought war.

How It Happened

Brooklyn would trail early in the first set, getting as close as 6-4 before Maritime would pull away by outscoring Brooklyn 19-6 to take a convincing 25-10 opening set.

Just as it seemed as the crowd would remain stunned and it seemed as though Brooklyn was defeated even after only one set, the Bulldogs would respond in the second set. With the Mariners up 4-3, the Bulldogs would go on a 12-1 run to take a 15-5 lead, with Malia Reyes leading the charge with 4 aces served in that span. Reyes would finish her debut with 5 aces, 8 assists, and 9 digs. Even with the Mariners attempting to close the gap late in the set, the Bulldogs would still take it 25-18.

In the third set, it seemed as though every time Brooklyn got close, Maritime would pull away. Brooklyn would get as close as 12-11, but Maritime would simply widen the gap with a 4-0 run of some sort, eventually taking the set 25-16.

Knowing how pivotal the fourth set was for either side, the Bulldogs came out with a 4-0 run that proved to be very important in the long run. However, the Mariners would eventually take the lead in the middle of the set, going on a 5-0 run to make the score 15-13. With a few kills by Ella Snobar late in the set, the Bulldogs were able to somewhat close the gap, eventually fighting their way to 24-24.

Just when an attack error seemed to take the air out of the building, Danielle Fuxman would have arguably her most important kill to tie the game 25-25. Even after Maritime came back, the Brooklyn crowd still had hope, cheering louder than ever to apply pressure that would eventually pay off as Ruti Joshi would put the set away with consecutive aces that were placed perfectly to tie the overall score 2-2 and take set four 28-26.

The war would culminate in the fifth set, in a show that gave exactly what was expected. The score would be tied a total of seven times in the set, and with the score 13-13, somehow it felt as though it was all possible. The Bulldogs would put it away in thrilling fashion with two kills to make it 15-13, a score that would send the crowd in a frenzy.

For the Bulldogs

• Amra Mulic led the passing with 12 assists, while also serving 2 aces and ranking second with 17 digs for the game.
• Ruti Joshi led the way defensively, racking up 22 digs while also serving 3 aces and 7 assists.
• Ella Snobar led the attack with 8 kills and 1 ace while contributing 12 digs and a block assist
• Danielle Fuxman would have a solid overall game finishing third in points by contributing 5 kills, 6 digs, as well as 2 blocks, with one being solo and another assisted.

Up next, the Brooklyn College women's volleyball team go on the road to face the United States Merchant Marine Academy Mariners on Thursday, September 4th at 7:00pm.