BROOKLYN, NY – Purchase College men's volleyball moved up to the No. 2 spot in Skyline Conference standings after defeating the Bears of St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn), 3-0, Tuesday night at the Hill Center. The Panthers cruised to set scores of 25-15, 25-21 and 25-22 in their second matchup against the Bears this season.
Purchase tallied a .196 attacking percentage as a team, led by freshman outside hitter
Joe Higgins (College Point, NY), who totaled six kills on 11 attempts without a single error (.545). He also chipped in on the defensive boards with three digs. Fellow freshman
Jeremiah Huntt (Bronx, NY) recorded a match-high 12 kills, to go along with two service aces, one solo block and a team-best 12 digs.
Junior setter
Andreo Otiniano (Mamaroneck, NY) led all scorers with an impressive 32 assists and recorded a .500 attacking percentage with four kills on eight attempts without a single error. Senior outside hitter
Luke Kubisch (Delmar, NY) and junior middle blocker
Thomas Slomka (Orchard Park, NY) also aided the Panther offense with nine and seven kills, respectively.
Purchase used four unanswered points, featuring back-to-back kills from Huntt and Slomka, to build an 11-4 lead in the first. A 6-1 Purchase run that saw three Bear errors later extended the PC's lead to 18-8. They held on comfortably, winning the first 25-15 as Slomka slammed another kill to close it out.
The Bears grabbed a one-point edge early in the second, but six-straight scores from PC gave them back the advantage at 11-6. SJC got back within one (19-18) after a kill from Tim Driscoll but Purchase outscored the Bears 6-3 over the final nine points to win 25-21 and go up 2-0 in sets as they looked to avenge a five-set loss to St. Joseph's earlier in the season.
SJC led for much of the third with two-straight kills from Driscoll putting them ahead 14-9. The lead held at five after a Driscoll ace (16-11), but Purchase put up five unanswered to tie things up at 16. The two sides exchanged runs until the score gridlocked again at 21-all following a PC service error. Back-to-back kills from Kubish and Otiniano put the match away, however, as the Panthers took a 25-22 victory sweeping the Skyline showdown and snatching second place from SJC.
Purchase is back in action at home this Thursday as the Panthers get set to play host to the Gryphons of Sarah Lawrence College. The Skyline matchup is slated for 7 p.m.
-SJC-BKLN sports information contributed to this release
