Staten Island, NY | The Dolphins nearly stretched their win streak out to five matches in a row, however, the Gothic Knights of New Jersey City University put a stop to that this afternoon at The Tank in Staten Island, NY.  The Dolphins hosted a non-conference tri-match with Maritime College and New Jersey City University.  The Dolphins were able to sweep the Privateers in the opening match, only to fall to the Gothic Knights in four in the final match of the afternoon. With the split, the Dolphins improved to 9-5 overall while the Privateers dropped to 3-8 and the Gothic Knights improved their mark to 5-9.

Match 1: Staten Island 3, Maritime College 0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-21)

The Dolphins made a strong statement in the opening match of the tri-match, sweeping the visiting Pioneers.  The tandem of Francesca Castellano and Margaret O'Malley-Rebovich proved to be too much for Maritime College. Castellano filled the stat sheet with a team-high 14 kills, hitting .464 and adding 12 digs.  O'Malley-Rebovich finished with 10 kills, hitting .292 with two block assists. 

Cassidy Iannariello led the team with 14 digs from the back line while Arianna Spears added another 33 assists to her total. 

Maritime lept out to a large, 10-3 lead over the Dolphins in the opening game, however, Staten Island didn't panic and powered their way back.  O'Malley-Rebovich knotted the game at 12 for the Dolphins before she secured another kill to give the Dolphins the lead for good. Celina Mendez was crucial in the Dolphins comeback that led to them taking the lead.  Mendez subbed in for Jackie Roloph to serve and instantly made an impact.  Mendez served eight times in a row, picking up three aces over that span. Castellano would force the Privateers to send free balls over to the Dolphins which led to easy kills for Jay-La Guy and Caitlin Esposito down the stretch. Up 24-18, Esposito would end the opening game with a kill which was set up by Spears to take a 1-0 lead.

After having to erase a large deficit in game one, the Dolphins made sure to not let that happen again. CSI came out in the second game and never trailed.  Holding an 11-9 lead CSI opened up their lead with a 9-2 run which was led by four Castellano kills.  Mendez stepped behind the line to serve with a 22-14 lead and brought the Dolphins within one point of the win.  Esposito, much like in game one, ended the second game with a kill to give CSI a 2-0 lead in the match. 

The third and final set was the closest of the match with just four points separating the Dolphins from the Privateers. In the early goings of the game, the Dolphins and Privateers flip-flopped the score until a small 5-2 run by CSI stretched their lead out. Mendez was once again the focal point of the run, forcing errors by the opposing team with her serves. It became a two-point game when Celyna Custodio picked up a kill for the Privateers to make the score 22-20 in favor of the Dolphins. Abigail Solomos brought it within one with a service ace.  Castellano had other plans, however. Castellano regained momentum for her team with a kill and finished it off with a pair of aces to secure the sweep.

Match 2: New Jersey City University 3, Staten Island 1 (20-25, 25-20, 21-25, 10-25)

The closing match of the day did not go to plan for the Dolphins. As a team, the Dolphins struggled to hit .100 in the match as two of their games fell into the negative hitting column. After knotting the opening game up at 17 the Dolphins looked poised to make yet another opening game comeback.  The Gothic Knights, however, didn't have that in their plans as would go on an 8-3 run to end the game and lock up game one. Stephanie Duque was lethal for NJCU throughout the entirety of the match but put it on display when she helped secure four straight points. 

CSI was efficient in game two, earning a 25-20 win and hitting their best percentage of the match, .138. The Dolphins earned the lead early on and were able to keep the Gothic Knights at bay for the entire game, never surrendering the lead.  Shaylah Ware nearly mounted a comeback for NJCU with a pair of service aces before an error ended that run and gave the ball to Arianna Spears who picked up an ace and caused an attacking error by Pamela Florimon. 

After making a couple of comebacks throughout the day the Dolphins saw their opponents make a comeback of their own. Leading 20-16, Duque and Amber O'Donnell hooked up for a pair of aces and kills to tie the game up at 20.  Staten Island would call a timeout to try and freeze the Knights but it was too late as NJCU would come out of the timeout and score three straight points to put them two points away from victory. CSI had a chance but Duque would secure the kill to give NJCU a 2-1 lead.

In the fourth game, the Dolphins looked gas, surrendering their largest defeat of the day. The Gothic Knights jumped out to a 10-4 lead and CSI couldn't find a way to dig themselves out of such a deep hole. The Dolphins would fall 25-10 in the final game after hitting just -.056 while the Gothic Knights hit .290. 

The Dolphins return to action on October 5 where they will participate in another non-conference tri-match in Patchogue, NY where they will face Ramapo College and St. Joseph's College - Long Island.