Brooklyn, NY |  The College of Staten Island women's volleyball team forged a split of a CUNYAC tri-match on Monday, falling in straight-sets to Brooklyn College while taking a 3-0 win over hosts Medgar Evers.  CSI fell to Brooklyn 25-18, 25-19, 25-22, while they took the three against MEC by scores of 25-18, 25-11, 25-19.  With the split CSI did end a four-match losing skid, and leveled to 10-9 overall and 5-1 in the CUNYAC.  

MATCH ONE - Brooklyn 3, Staten Island 0
CSI battled hard in the opening match to Brooklyn, a team they fell to earlier in the season, 3-2, as part of a non-conference trimatch.  A Francesca Castellano kill in the early stages gave CSI an 8-5 edge, but later, a 6-1 BC run gave then an 11-9 edge, highlighted by two Ezri Shor kills.  Later CSI would forge a tie, but a mini 4-0 run by the Bulldogs put them on top, 17-13 thanks to consecutive kills by Lucy Yazikova and Michaela Appel.  Errors by CSI saw them fall behind by a larger 22-15, before the 25-18 final in the opening set.

CSI again got off to a quick lead in the second frame, this time 3-0, helped by an Arianna Spears ace.  Later, a Margaret O'Malley-Rebovich ace gave CSI an 11-9 lead, but as was the case often, BC had a great answer, this time with a 10-1 run that featured two kills from Shor and Appel and two aces from Yana Shaposhnikova.  A late 5-0 run by CSI that featured kills from Caitlin Esposito and Castellano got CSI to within 24-19, but BC took the set on an attack error.

In the final stage of the match, the teams stayed neck-and-neck, and CSI seemed well-positioned later in the set when a Castellano kill put CSI ahead late, 16-15.  A kill by Appel, however, would eventually give BC the lead again at 20-19, and later, two-straight attack errors hurt CSI as they fell behind 23-20.  The teams traded the final four points and BC was able to register the win with a 25-22 win in set number three.

Appel led all scorers with 15 kills on 28 attempts, adding a team-high four service aces.  Shor tallied eight kills while Shaposhnikova finished with a game-high 12 digs.  CSI saw the kill leaders as Castellano and O'Malley-Rebovich, as they had nine each.  Alexandria Boachie-Ansah and Cassidy Iannariello each tallied 11 digs, while Spears put up 23 assists.

MATCH TWO - Staten Island 3, Medgar Evers 0
CSI was able to steady the ship and break their four-match skid against Medgar Evers.  The home Cougars took an early lead in the first set, going up by a big 11-4 margin before CSI came to life.  Three kills by O'Malley-Rebovich ignited a 12-4 run that eventually saw CSI take a 16-15 lead.  Melisa Wright answered back for MEC with a kill that tied the match at 18-18.  But CSI had the final answer, scorching MEC for a 7-0 run to end the set for a 25-18 win.  Two more O'Malley-Rebovich kills and another by Jacqueline Roloph told the story there.

CSI used that momentum well for the second set, getting out to an early lead thanks to two aces by Spears.  Still, CSI was only up 6-4 before they were able to piece together a 9-2 run that gave them a bigger 15-6 edge.  Esposito powered in two aces in the run.  Like in the first set, CSI got a huge finish as well in the second, this time finishing on a 9-0 burner powered by two kills each from Boachie-Ansah and Jay-La Guy.

In the final set, CSI got off to a 15-6 start powered by the ace, as Esposito got in four while O'Malley-Rebovich put in a pair.  MEC then answered back with a powerful 9-0 run to tie the score at 15-15, highlighted by two Sashamoni Burnett kills.  After a timeout at 17-17, CSI responded well, and ended the frame on an 8-2 run to take the match, finished off by two more Esposito kills to end it.

O'Malley-Rebovich finished with 10 kills for CSI, adding five aces.  Spears tallied 23 assists, while Esposito finished with eight service aces.  Burnett finished with six kills to lead MEC.

CSI will next be in action against the College of New Rochelle on Thursday, October 11, on the road at 7pm.