Old Westbury, NY - The John Jay men's volleyball team picked up its sixth win of the season on Sunday afternoon, defeating host Old Westbury, 3-0, as part of the Panthers' tri-match with SUNY Poly.
The Bloodhounds dropped their opening match of the day against the SUNY Poly Wildcats, 1-3. The loss is the lone stumble for the team in the month of February and the first since opening night, Jan. 24.
GAME ONE: SUNY Poly 3, John Jay 1
The Bloodhounds struggled to get their footing in the opening set of the first game of the day, battling through offensive errors and trailing by as many as four. Logan Ramos and Kyle Bariffe-Johnson kicked off a six-point run with a pair of kills to give John Jay its first lead of the match, 13-12.
The team benefitted from an uncharacteristic eight kills by the Wildcats to maintain the advantage for a 25-21 first-set win.
Ramos and Alex Bridgelall powered a much stronger start to the second period for the Bloodhounds, with the outside scoring a pair of kills and Bridgelall adding an ace for a 3-0 start. John Jay held its advantage for the first ten points of the set.
Poly's Jordan Weir engineered a 7-0 run for the Wildcats that included three aces to give his side a 15-8 advantage.
The errors continued to mount for the Bloodhounds as their deficit grew to as many as ten points down the stretch. The Wildcats evened the match at one set apiece with the 25-14 second set win.
As the match moved to the third set, the story was largely the same as the second set. The Bloodhounds took the early lead, but the Wildcats chipped away at the deficit due in part to eight attack errors by John Jay. Jeferson Avila-Macancela logged six of his nine kills in the match in the third set, helping to keep the Wildcat lead in reaching distance through the majority of the set. His sixth kill of the set, and a block two points later, were part of a key 4-0 run late in the frame to give the Bloodhounds a late 23-22 advantage.
The Wildcats scored the final three points of the set to secure a two-set advantage with a 25-23 win.
John Jay needed a win in the fourth set to keep the match alive and Bridgelall did his part from behind the service line to push his team forward. Trailing 8-12, he notched a kill and two aces to tie the match in a four-point swing. He set Avila-Macancela just four points later to give the Bloodhounds a much-needed 14-13 lead. Ramos doubled the lead soon after, 17-15.
Eight total errors down the stretch cost John Jay the opportunity for a fifth-set win, as Poly took the fourth set, 25-22.
Ramos secured his second double-double of the year, finishing the four-setter with 11 kills and 13 digs. Bariffe-Johnson matched his offensive output, hitting .350 for the match. Bridgelall finished with 31 assists and four aces.
GAME TWO: John Jay 3, Old Westbury 0
The Bloodhounds shook off the first match of the day to keep the host Panthers winless on the opening day of their season.
John Jay held Old Westbury to just 12 kills for the match, hitting just .027 over three sets.
Akashdeep Singh and Jaden Lamarre led the offensive effort with seven kills each and trailed just twice over the entire match.
Stephen Daly recorded his best performance since his return to the program, starting early in the match. Daly swung for the opening kill of the first set and added an ace in the Bloodhounds 6-1 opening scoring run. The visitors were helped by a match-high four errors by Old Westbury for a 25-16 win to start the final match of the day.
The Bloodhounds cracked double-digit aces as a team for the fourth time this season, recording 13 on Saturday afternoon.
After a dominant opening set, the visitors committed seven early errors in the second to give Old Westbury an 8-6 lead. Jaden Lamarre gave John Jay a lead his team would not give up with an ace and a kill on back-to-back points. The Bloodhounds scored the final five points of the set for a 25-19 win.
In the final set of the match, the Bloodhounds moved quickly to take control. Singh scored three straight kills to give his team a 12-3 lead. John Jay held the Panthers to single digits for nearly the entire set, broken by four straight Bloodhound errors as part of a 7-0 Westbury run.
Bridgelall and Singh stepped up to cap the run and earned John Jay a 25-16 win in the final set.
Singh went error-free on the attack in the win, scoring kills in seven of his eight attack attempts and hitting .875. Lamarre had his best game as a Bloodhound, swinging for seven kills and earning two blocks.
Daniel Gonzalez Verdejo played his most significant time of the season, assisting 12 times and adding two aces and two digs over two sets played. Bridgelall finished with five kills and 18 assists.
NEXT UP: The Bloodhounds return home on Thursday, Feb. 22 to host Yeshiva. The first serve is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. in The Doghouse.
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